MARCH 20208t's a known fact that one of the biggest challenges India is facing is providing em-ployment to the youth, espe-cially demanding millennials who are not ready to compromise. And why would & why should they? Who can fulfill this need? Gov-ernment? Large industrial giants? Big businesses? Certainly not. As evident these bodies are strug-gling to sustain themselves and working the very best to reduce their manpower. Is there anyone else?? The right answer is Start-ups. Ola Cabs, Paytm, Swiggy, Zomato are the popular ones to name a few. While most of the economy is down in dumps, Indian startups are surprisingly flourishing. The startup wave in India is getting stronger by the day and state-level policies and initiatives are making a huge difference to boost the tech ecosystems at a regional level. The Startup India policy in the central government is piloting the direction of the over-all tech industry, but at the same time, each state has its own pol-icies to attend to areas that need the most attention. Such is the case with Andhra Pradesh too.Andhra Pradesh (AP) has re-cently had to adapt to the changes in the region after its bifurcation. As stated by the Andhra Pradesh innovation society, a big chal-lenge lies ahead in rebuilding the state from scratch. The Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh is mak-ing rapid progress in all develop-mental dimensions. Continuing its steady progress, the State en-visions its transformation into an innovation-driven society and this can be largely done by promot-ing and recognizing innovative products/solutions that address societal problems.In the Andhra Pradesh startup ecosystem, there is no particular sector that has too many start-ups. They are scattered across various sectors, and interesting-ly most pf they are based out of Vijayawada or Vizag as these two cities emerge as startup hubs es-pecially after losing Hyderabad's IT influence. In Visakhapatnam which is mostly known as the in-dustrial center of Andhra Pradesh, technological advancements are becoming more prominent by the day which has helped the growth of many startups. The state gov-ernment has also been supportive with numerous enablers like iTA-AP, (industry association for the IT, BPM, and electronics sectors in Andhra Pradesh), AP Innovation Society (aimed to create a start-up ecosystem in AP), StartAP Fest (run by entrepreneurs, freelanc-ers, and volunteers - the largest conference of, by, and for Andhra-preneurs) and many more.There are many success sto-ries of AP startups like, Yes! Poho, which allows weavers and artisans to directly connect with custom-ers online to sell handloom sarees, STARTUPS IN INDIA: A NEW ERA OR NEED OF THE DAY?By Subhash Shukla, Vice President, Bajaj ElectricalsIN MY OPINIONSubhash is a Six Sigma Black Belt Mechanical Engineer with demonstrated experience of more than two decades in the industry having skilled in various fields like manufacturing, quality and R&D ISubhash Shukla, Vice President
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