Adding another feather in his cap, Zerodha co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has been appointed as one of the members of the National Start-up Advisory Council (NSAC), a new panel formed by the Narendra Modi government
Nithin Kamath was one of the 31 new members of the council, as announced by the Centre on December 18. Kamath also took to social media to announce the same, and talked about how more people from the younger generation are now opting to be a part of startups.
Taking to X, Nithin Kamath wrote, “More Indians today than ever before are aspiring to be entrepreneurs thanks to government initiatives and messaging, the media coverage of the start-up ecosystem, founder success stories, and more. The one thing we need to work on as a nation is to unlock domestic capital for start-ups/MSMEs. Reduce the dependence on foreign capital and get Indians to back Indian start-ups.”
The Zerodha founder further said, “It is maybe time for newer products or vehicles that can be used by accredited investors or those who can take higher risks to be able to invest in equity or debt in start-ups/MSMEs. The appetite in India to invest in newer products is like never before and we need to make use of this opportunity. Apart from reducing external capital dependency, this could also mean that wealth created from startups stays in India.”
All about the National Startup Advisory Council
NASC was formed by the central government in January 2020, and has the prime objective of helping the Centre create a nurturing ecosystem for startup companies and innovation to grow.
NASC has been constituted under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and is headed by Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Non-official members, like Kamath, are appointed to the committee for a term of two years.
Other members who have been made part of the startup council are Prof Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, IIT Kanpur; Karthik Reddy, Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association; Prof Yogesh Singh, University of Delhi; Nivruti Rai from Invest India and presidents of many industry chambers.