RIL bets big on start-ups; plans to develop India into global hub

With an aim to showcase India as a start-up and innovation hub on the global platform, Reliance Industries has shown its eagerness to invest more funds to create an ecosystem in the country that can build high-value start-ups by 2020.

This week, RIL’s startup accelerator programme, GenNext Innovation has inducted another batch of 10 start-ups, which includes two Israeli companies. The aim of this programmer, which runs in partnership with Microsoft Ventures, is to bring global exposure to the fledgling startup ecosystem in the country.

Vivek Rai Gupta, managing partner at RIL-controlled venture capital arm GenNext Ventures, said, “We've just taken the first baby steps, and we hope to be on parity with the Silicon Valley and Israel, and put our country on the global start-up map by 2022."

Gupta didn’t specify that how much wealth the company is willing to shell out, however, he confirmed that start-ups have already begun engaging RIL in areas of logistics, supply chain management and corporate security.

If reports are to be believed, the unique platform could be worth around $ 5 billion.
"While the first batch was just a pilot, and now that we've started actively, the top three or five companies that succeed will work with our business units," added Gupta.

Besides this, he also pointed out that GenNext Innovation Hub is expanding in significant ways, besides this collaborative accelerator programme with Microsoft. The Hub is facilitating 20-30 other companies to work directly with the businesses, revealed Gupta.
Image: thinkstock