Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a video conference with leading start-ups, developers and angel investors to assess the impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown in the country and also discussed concerns including cash flow and revenue problems and labour issues.

The meeting was also attended by the officers from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, NITI Aayog, and SIDBI.

“In the meeting, it was mentioned that many start-ups have been working on finding various solutions to Covid-19 issues with focus on preventive, assistive and curative aspects of the pandemic. These ventures will require access, funding, validation, scaling-up, and support. A joint committee including representatives from various government departments and industry associations is evaluating the initiatives,” said an official note.

Representatives of start-ups raised concerns which included a severe liquidity crunch, cash flow and revenue problems, labour issues and other difficulties faced in running their ventures due to lockdown, the release added.

Goyal appreciated the launch of Action COVID-19 Team (ACT) which is starting a ₹100-crore programme, aimed to seed over 50 initiatives through grants to combat the economic fallout of Covid-19 in the country.

The Minister also lauded another start-up venture which is trying to help the small retail shops stores, in Tier-II and -III towns, to overcome the issues of supply chain and scarcity of resources.

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