Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar held a virtual meeting with 400 startups and assured them that the government is focused on helping them recover after the collapse of US lender Silicon Valley Bank.
By Aishwarya Paliwal: Days after the failure of US startup-focused lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Indian technology startups – some of which have been impacted by the sudden collapse of the bank – have got a positive message from the government.
Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar held a virtual meeting with startups and assured that the government is focused on helping them navigate through the situation. The meeting was held with at least 400 startups in the wake of SVB’s shutdown last week.
He also emphasised that startups should start relying on the country’s banking system. “The Indian banking system is trusted and robust and startups must start using it, ” he said.
During the hour-long discussion, Indian startups said they managed to withdraw their deposits stuck in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) accounts after US authorities announced support measures to limit the fallout.
Chandrasekhar also said both the IT and finance ministry are working on a formula to ensure Indian startups do not feel any liquidity crunch.
He further added that the government will look to shield startups from any such closures in future.“The finance ministry and RBI will be looking at policies to shield startups from any such closures in future,” he said.
While SVB’s closure initially triggered panic among tech-focused startups around the world, emergency measures announced by US authorities allowed depositors to access their fund.
This provided huge relief to organisations (mainly startups) who had parked more than $250,000 with SVB.
