Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has revealed that 60 winners out of more than 1,200 start-ups and innovators who participated in Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC) have received grants of up to Rs 1.5 crore each to build prototypes.
At the Start-up Manthan organised on February 05, 2021 at Aero India 2021, Rajnath Singh announced that 45 MSMEs participating in Aero India have received orders worth Rs 203 crore.
He applauded the success of Start-up India in creating an ecosystem of more than 41,000 start-ups, 4.7 lakh jobs and Rs 4,500 crore of investment in 384 start-ups through Fund of Funds Scheme.
Rajnath Singh also spoke of steps taken by the government to give a push to start-ups in the defence manufacturing system such as opening up the patents and laboratories of DRDO to private industry, setting up of Young Scientists labs in niche technology areas, programmes like iDEX, Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC), IDEX4Fauji, etc.
Three Hundred plus start-ups are currently engaged and iDEX 10 start-ups have developed the products worth Rs 100 crore which have been displayed in Aero India 2021.
iDEX had been designed to infuse the latest technology into military warfare closely intertwined with the needs of services and to reduce dependence on imports.
Rajnath Singh handed over Certificates of recognition to innovators under iDEX4Fauji and DISC 4 challenges at the event.
