Govt nominates 28 non-official members on startup council

The government on Tuesday nominated 28 non-official members on the National Startup Advisory Council, including Byju’s Chief Executive Officer Byju Raveendran, Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Kalaari Capital Managing Director Vani Kola and SoftBank India country head Manoj Kohli.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the council on January 21, 2020, to advise the government on measures required to build a “strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country,” stated the Commerce Ministry in a release.

The term of the non-official members of this council, chaired by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, shall be for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Other members include ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman, Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Kris Gopalakrishnan of Axilor Ventures, Renuka Ramnath from the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Uday Kotak of the CII and Uday Shankar of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).