The India pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will see the presence of a number of start-ups from across different sectors as part of the government’s efforts to showcase its prowess in the arena and enable ventures and investors to explore inward and outward growth and investment opportunities, senior government officials said.
India’s proposed start-up play at the Expo, aside from the participation of the country’s corporate and public sector biggies, will be part of the government’s strategy to generate mega investments at the global event.
Towards this, the Indian participation will also include some of the leading investment banks, though their names are not yet revealed.
India has emerged as the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world after the US and China, with its total count of unicorns reaching 51, estimated to have a combined valuation of $168 billion, according to recent data from Hurun Research Institute.
India has been adding three unicorns every month over the last year. The US tops the list with 396 unicorns, followed by China with 277.
The UAE has been witnessing the emergence of a strong start-up ecosystem of late with three of the homegrown ventures attaining unicorn status and more are on their way to join the list.
ProSolMinds, Grassroots Energy, Dhruva Space, GCRS, E Waste Social, PadCare Labs and Sunemison Solar Energy are among the Indian start-ups, which have already confirmed their participation, while several famed Indian start-up ventures are expected to sign up soon.
“We are encouraging various start-ups across target sectors to participate at the Expo as it will help them to network and present their ideas to the global audiences. More start-ups are in the process of finalising their participation,” a senior official said.
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Rajib Gangopdhyay, founder of EMotorad.
Significantly, apart from the India pavilion, some of the Indian start-ups, such as EMotorad – the e-bike venture – will be participating at the Expo 2020 as part of other sections.
“We will be participating in the section of DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) – the official sustainable energy partner of Expo 2020 Dubai. Since we are essentially a venture promoting green energy and sustainability products, we thought this would be a more appropriate section for our products,” Rajib Gangopdhyay, founder, EMotorad, told Arabian Business.
Sector experts said India’s proposed ‘start-up play’ at the Expo will be a win-win for India and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as many of the challenges that MENA will face [in the start-up arena] will be similar to that of the Indian market.
“Indian start-ups can help accelerate the growth [in MENA] by using their learning from a varied market like their own and apply them in a new market such as MENA,” Sandeep Ganediwalla (pictured below), Dubai-based managing partner of RedSeer Consulting, told Arabian Business.
Meanwhile, India’s federal commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal, on Monday in Delhi unveiled the curtain raiser on the Indian participation at the Expo and said the government is confident of generating ‘big time’ investments from the event, which is expected to see millions of visitors, especially investors and businesspeople from around the world.
A senior commerce and industry ministry official overseeing the Indian participation at the Expo, however, told Arabian Business that the ministry has not set any target or made any assessment of expectation on investments from the event.
“We are confident of attracting ‘significant investments’ from the event as we will be showcasing the country’s advantages and capabilities across sectors, including services. However, there is no target or expectation set on the quantum of investments,” the ministry official said.
One of the largest at the Expo 2020 Dubai, the four-storey India pavilion will feature an innovative kinetic facade made up of 600 individual colourful blocks – a mosaic of rotating panels to depict the theme of ‘India on the move’.
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