Yogi govt plans India's largest startup incubation hub in Lucknow

Identifies 40 acres near Lucknow Airport, STPI to invest Rs 200 million

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has planned to develop the country’s largest startup ecosystem on the outskirt of Lucknow.

The state has already identified about 40 acres of land near Lucknow Airport for the proposed startup incubation ecosystem comprising data centre, business processes outsourcing (BPO), development centre, training centres etc.

In the first phase, the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a central government agency, is likely to invest about Rs 200 million to develop the main complex of the startup hub spread over 2 acres.

“We estimate that it would take 6 months to forge the necessary tie-ups with other stakeholders and partners on board, while the startup hub would be up and running in the next 3 years,” UP additional chief secretary (IT & electronics) Sanjiv Saran told Business Standard. He said the proposed facility is touted to be the largest in terms of the carpet area and bench strength.

At the UP Investors Summit 2018 on 21-22 February, the state government had received 11 investment proposals worth Rs 130 billion for setting up startup ventures and these proposals are being followed up for early fruition.

Besides, the department would also tie-up with reputed UP based institutions, such as Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) etc as key knowledge partners in the ambitious project.

The Adityanath government has already created a dedicated startup fund of Rs 10 billion in association with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). About 2.5 billion had already been allocated for startups in the state.

After coming to power, the government had clearly spelt out its priority towards startups to promote entrepreneurship and generate employment for youth. In fact, the government has mooted to hold startup workshops in all the 18 divisions of the state in near future. A panel of 100 mentors has been created for helping the startups in initial stages and facilitating the transformation of their business ideas to marketable products.

The department has even launched a dedicated startup helpline for the benefit of greenhorns looking to creating the next unicorns in the country.

Of late, Lucknow has been witnessing a steady scaling up of startup ecosystems in the private sector. The startup infrastructure and support system is growing faster in Lucknow, which according to a research report by US-based angel.co is home to over 400 startups and counting. The UP startup ecosystem is proliferating in all dimensions viz. start-up funding, incubation, handholding, co-working space, knowledge sharing etc.

SIDBI had launched a financial technology incubator at IIM-L called ‘SIDBI Centre for Innovations in Financial Inclusion’ (SCI-FI), mandated to catering not just the IIM-L, but other institutions as well. SIDBI is keen to support similar incubators in other institutions too.