BENGALURU: In a bid to support startups, especially in the B2B (business-to-business) space, CII Karnataka will set up a ‘Startup Task Force’ that will provide them an opportunity to interact with bigger companies and also create a platform to present a proof of concept.
To begin with, about 25 startups will benefit from this new initiative that also includes mentoring. Speaking about CII’s five key priorities for Karnataka here on Tuesday, Arjun M Ranga, Chairman, CII Karnataka and MD of N Ranga Rao & Sons, said that apart from startups, policy advocacy, MSME engagement, industry-institute interaction and Beyond Bengaluru will be focus areas.
CII has been closely working with the Karnataka government on key growth areas such as ease of doing business, taxation policies, skilling and up-skilling initiatives.“MSME engagement being a key focus area, CII Karnataka has been promoting growth and development for MSMEs as well as converging on policy-related interventions,” Ranga said. He added that 60 institutes are associated with CII, and that they are enhancing membership services leveraging strengths of zones such as Mysuru and Hubballi-Dharwad, among others.
Apart from this, decriminalisation under various acts will be another focus area under policy advocacy for Karnataka. Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan, vice-chairman, CII Karnataka, said, “Industry-institute interaction has been initiated as a new engagement plan, considering the membership strength of Karnataka with institutes contributing to 10 per cent of the overall membership.” CII has also been working with the Karnataka government on areas such as labour codes, through IR experts.