Delivering the closing address at The Economic Times Startup Awards 2024 in Bengaluru on Saturday, Vaidyanathan lauded the government’s push towards encouraging startups and building a digital ecosystem that continues to support and encourage the growth of startups.
“New-age companies are innovating on real-life problems and the government is actively creating a support system to further this growth,” he said.
He also acknowledged Nandan Nilekani, founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from 2009 to 2014, for his contribution to India’s digital leaps.
“Nandan Nilekani has had a crucial role to play in developing the public digital infrastructure of the country and the growth of the startup ecosystem has been born out of that,” said Vaidyanathan.
Nilekani was chairman of the jury that picked the winners and also moderated a session at the event on Saturday.
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Close to 20,000 startups among the country’s 100,000-odd startups bank with IDFC First Bank, said Vaidyanathan, adding that the bank is working on developing its technology stack that will permit hyper-personalisation, data analytics and data engineering.Ecosystems come up around cities that become hubs of industry and Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem has sprung up around its universities, young talent and venture capitalists, he said. However, the city still needs to work on its infrastructure and roads to become more conducive and liveable, he added.