Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani is showcasing India’s consumer electronic systems start-ups at the India Tech Park, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Motwani speaks about the India Tech Park and what she thinks of the Indian start-up ecosystem. Edited excerpts:

1- What is the purpose behind launching India Tech Park at CES2020?

India Tech Park is a platform for Indian start-ups working towards a sustainable future utilizing technological innovation and creating products that tackle global problems. When I visited CES last year, there was no official representation from India. As a member of Indian diaspora, I decided to take up the initiative and showcase Indian start-ups on to a global platform.

2- What are your views on the start-up ecosystem in India?

The startup ecosystem in India is still evolving. The promise shown by Indian start-ups is incredible. Buoyed by bold, fresh economic policies and reduced red tape, Indian startups can truly lead the world and can contribute to the goal of a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and even overshoot it to reach a $10 trillion economy if nurtured and supported well.

The government has taken a lot of initiatives to provide a push to the startup culture in the country but the international exposure to start-ups is still relatively low. Also, I feel that the Indian bureaucracy is stifling and damaging the Indian start-up ecosystem by flushing down billions of rupees on useless buildings (which they call incubators).

To see them flourish, it is important for the government to pull bureaucracy out of the Indian start-up ecosystem.

3- How can Indian start-ups go global?

The only way to pave the way for the Indian start-ups to the global platforms is by making the ecosystem free from babus and babudom. We are really fortunate that our PM is very bullish on Indian start-ups but ends up handing over the whole ecosystem to his bureaucrats. He must be advised to free up billions of rupees that we are wasting on IT bureaucracies and hand over that money to the people who have created and funded dozens of successful start-ups before so that they can develop more start-ups which are actually fruitful.

4- What can the government do to boost the Indian start-ups?

The government should involve highly successful diaspora members to take charge of the Indian start-ups. The diaspora members have global exposure, and can guide the start-ups well. The Indian bureaucracy should be kept out as they are not helping start-ups to connect with the Valley directly. Instead they keep sending babus to foreign countries which yields no results except wasting tax payers’ money.

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