Latest news with #AK
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
More domestic capital flowing into start-up ecosystem compared to Covid period: STPI DG Arvind Kumar
The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, was formed in 1991 with the aim to promote the IT/ITeS industry, foster innovation, support research and development (R&D), and encourage start-ups across the country. STPI has been actively working on strengthening India's start-up ecosystem by providing support and resources through its Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) and domain-specific Centres of Entrepreneurship (CoE). Arvind Kumar , Director General of STPI, talks to ET Digital about the organisation's initiatives that are shaping the future of India's technology and start-up ecosystem. Edited excerpts: Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Analytics Operations Management Design Thinking Leadership CXO healthcare Management MCA Project Management Finance Technology Product Management Artificial Intelligence Degree Data Science MBA PGDM Digital Marketing Data Science Cybersecurity Healthcare Others Public Policy others Skills you'll gain: Data Analysis & Visualization Predictive Analytics & Machine Learning Business Intelligence & Data-Driven Decision Making Analytics Strategy & Implementation Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Applied Business Analytics Starts on Jun 13, 2024 Get Details Economic Times (ET): Tell us about STPI's initiatives in the tier II and III cities. Arvind Kumar (AK) : We have 67 STPI centres in India, with 59 located in tier II and III cities. We also have 24 CoEs (Centres of Entrepreneurship) across the country. Most of these are in tier III cities. So, these 24 centres of entrepreneurship are domain specific. These are different from other incubators because other incubators are generally for all kinds of start-ups. But we have domain-specific or technology-specific centres. For example, we have CoE in Bengaluru for artificial intelligence (AI), medtech in Lucknow, and blockchain in Gurugram. We have created 8 COEs in the Northeast, including Kohima, Shillong, Itanagar, Agartala, Gangtok, and Guwahati. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No annual fees for life UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Our scheme NGIS (Next Generation Incubation Scheme) is particularly for tier II and tier III cities. Under this scheme, we are supporting around 700 start-ups. Here, we provide Rs 25 lakh and incubation space at 12 locations to those who are selected. Along with this, we also provide mentorship and global connections to them. In the past three years, we have taken 25 to 30 start-ups to Silicon Valley along with this TiE Silicon Valley program. Live Events ET: What are some of the key challenges these entrepreneurs typically face? AK: When I meet investors and other stakeholders in the industry, they say that even though the start-up has a very good solution, they don't know how to pitch. This realisation came to us three years back and since then, we have been working with these start-ups, teaching them how to pitch right. We first did 90 days of intensive mentorship with them, where they got to understand how to talk to investors as well as those outside the country. An important factor here is also to be ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)-compliant. So, in this mentorship programme, we have a number of mentors who are experts in climate change or in ESG, and they guide them on how to go and how to show your pitch to outside investors, assuring them that you are indeed ESG compliant. ET: Recently in an event, you mentioned that STPI was unable to meet its start-up target. What have you been able to analyse here? AK: So, we have the NGIS scheme, which was for three years. We need to fund around 200 start-ups in these three years. That was our target, but we were able to fund only 135 start-ups. Then we analysed the problem. This fund needs to be dispersed through the fund manager, and sometimes these start-ups are not even an official company yet; they don't have chartered accountants. It takes time. Sometimes they don't know what the shareholders agreement (SHA) is, so we have to make the SHA for them. And even then, they are sometimes not aware of the implications of some small conditions of SHA. When we select to disperse the Rs 25 lakh fund, we have to sign this agreement. Then sometimes they get this advice from somewhere that this will be bad for them, and they should remove themselves from the SHA. While we had selected more than 300 start-ups, we were able to onboard only 135 due to lack of awareness and compliance issues. Because it takes a lot of time. ET: The MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan had also recently said that a lot of innovations coming from start-ups are adopted by big tech companies and taken forward. And sometimes they are not able to find new start-ups to populate incubation centres. So, what has been your experience? AK: Not lack of ideas, but lack of awareness, like I said. So, they have ideas, but they don't know which incubator they should have. Sometimes one start-up may get incubated at 10 places. They may also get funded from 10 places. Sometimes, they are unable to present their ideas to any incubator or any fund investor. The problem is they aren't able to pitch the ideas before the right incubator based on what exactly they are looking at. Every incubator is offering something different. Every fund investor is offering something different. Some could be incubation equity and some could be investment equity. As a start-up, you are busier in building technical things but may not be able to identify incubators. ET: What kind of start-up sentiment are you seeing today, in terms of funding, ideas, and products, compared to a few years back when there was a funding winter? AK: The best of the time was actually the Covid-19 period, about four years back. So, 2021 was the best period when a start-up was getting a lot of funding. Once this period was over, there was a funding winter. Back then, most of the fund investors were from outside. India's capital was not moving towards the start-up ecosystem. Indian investors were looking at the stock market, real estate, and gold as investment options. While the Indian innovators were creating start-ups, HNIs (high net-worth individuals) in their fifties with a lot of money did not have start-ups in their investment portfolio. So, the big change that I can see today is now domestic capital is moving towards the start-up ecosystem. Now, domestic people who have money want to invest. Now they have a lot of awareness about start-ups. They are looking for a good start-up to invest in. So that is why today funding is not a major issue. Funding is coming from all corners. So, there is positive sentiment towards funding as of now.
UPI
6 days ago
- UPI
Manhunt on for suspects who fled Texas crash that killed 4, injured 18
July 18 (UPI) -- At least four people were killed and 18 injured, including children and seniors, after a high-speed multi-vehicle collision in San Antonio on Interstate 35, the city's Police Department said. The Thursday afternoon incident occurred when a stolen Chevy Camaro being driven at high speed reportedly crashed into a small passenger bus towing a trailer. Police said they were looking for four suspects, one of whom was armed, who left the scene and asked people to avoid the Leon Creek section of southbound I-35. "We had a stolen white Camaro south on 35 speeding wrecked into a small transport bus carrying a trailer. As a result of that crash, two individuals are dead. 18 have been transported to hospitals," said San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus. "There are four individuals who fled from the vehicle. One was armed with an AK rifle," he added. Bus operator, Fort Worth-based Transport Guerra, asked relatives of passengers who were on the Mexico-bound service to call their office. The bus was scheduled to stop in Eagle Pass on the border, before crossing into Mexico with stops in the Carbonifera coal mining region and "5 manantiales."
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Time of India
Manipur: Displaced people returning to their villages stopped; police calls it 'precautionary measure'
Manipur Police (File photo/PTI) NEW DELHI: Security forces on Wednesday stopped nearly 100 internally displaced people (IDP) in Manipur from returning to their villages, police said. "The IDPs were staying in a relief camp near Sajiwa in Imphal East district. They moved towards Doilaithabi in the same district, to return to their native villages," a senior officer told news agency PTI. "This was done as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident," the officer added, without providing further details. Thousands of people have been displaced in Manipur due to the ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei and tribal Kuki communities, since May 2023. Earlier, in a major crackdown on Tuesday, security forces recovered 86 weapons and 974 rounds of ammunition in the five valley districts of the Northeastern state. Among the weapons recovered were five AK rifles, three INSAS rifles, 16 SLRs, five .303 rifles, 19 pistols, two carbines, nine other types of rifles, and 16 single-barrel guns. The coordinated operations were conducted by joint teams, comprising the Manipur Police, CAPFs, Army and Assam Rifles.
NDTV
15-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Major Accomplishment": Joint Forces Recover Large Number Of Weapons In Manipur
Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi: The security forces in a joint operation recovered 86 firearms and over 900 rounds of different types in Manipur, the police said on Tuesday. Based on intelligence inputs about hidden weapons in the state's valley areas, a joint team of the police, central paramilitary forces, army and Assam Rifles launched search operations in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching, and Bishnupur districts, the police said. They recovered 86 firearms including five AK series assault rifles, three INSAS and 16 self-loading rifles (SLRs). The joint teams also found over 900 rounds of various types including 7.62 mm and 5.62 mm bullets, and high-explosive mortal shells. "These continued intelligence-led operations represent a major accomplishment for the Manipur Police and security forces in their continued mission to restore peace, uphold public order, and safeguard the lives and property of citizens," the police said in a post on X. They asked the public to cooperate with the police and security forces in promptly reporting any suspicious activity or information linked to illegal arms to the nearest police station or the central control room. PRESS NOTE Imphal, 15th July 2025 Subject: Major Recovery of Arms and Ammunition by Manipur Police and Security Forces In another significant step towards restoring peace and security in Manipur, a successful operation was conducted in the early hours of 15 July 2025 by... — Manipur Police (@manipur_police) July 15, 2025 Many insurgents in the valley and some in the hill areas have been arrested since Manipur came under the President's rule in February. The frequency of arrests has been increasing, officials said, highlighting the success of ongoing operations. Many of the insurgents, such as those from the Meitei armed group Kangleipak Communist Party (People's War Group) or KCP (PWG), have been arrested for extortion. These insurgents have not spared even the common people who are already in a difficult situation due to the ethnic crisis, social workers have said. The police also said they arrested 16 more insurgents and recovered 35 firearms in separate operations across the state. The state police, army and central police forces arrested 10 wanted insurgents from five districts and recovered 35 firearms including improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Six more insurgents were arrested in the last 24 hours from Bishnupur, Thoubal and Imphal West, all of them in the valley. Security Forces Face Resistance In Churachandpur There was tension from Monday evening till the early hours on Tuesday in Kuki-dominant Churachandpur district due to protests against an attempt to arrest an insurgent by the security forces, news agency PTI reported. The security forces tried to arrest the insurgent from Molhoi village on Monday evening, PTI reported. However, a huge crowd gathered there and stopped the security forces from arresting the insurgent. The mob grew in numbers and the protest intensified with tyres set on fire to block the road. Following the face-off, which lasted for some six hours, the security forces left the village at 1 am without arresting the insurgent, officials said.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Time of India
86 weapons, 974 pieces of ammunition recovered in Manipur
(You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel In a joint operation security forces on Tuesday recovered 86 arms and around 974 different types of ammunition in Manipur. Manipur police said that in the early hours of Tuesday, on the basis of specific Intelligence report, simultaneous search operations were launched in five Imphal valley the 86 arms recovered,five AK rifles , three INSAS rifles, 16 SLRs, five .303 rifles, 19 pistols, two carbines, nine other types of rifles, and 16 single-barrel guns. The recovered ammunition includes grenades, high explosives, mortar shells, tube launching and Improvised Explosive Devices.
