Twitter seva will act as hotline for entrepreneurs, startups in India

Startups have high expectations from the government for support in building the ecosystem

Indian government’s Twitter Seva for startups is all set to debut today. This is an extension of government’s initiatives to support the startup ecosystem in India. Twitter Seva will act as a hotline for entrepreneurs where government will provide necessary help and means through the microblogging site Twitter.

While the players in the industry are happy to see such a support extended to the budding entrepreneurs, there are certain expectations attached to Twitter Seva as well. Here are some of them:

• One-Stop Shop: Twitter Seva should act like a one-stop shop for information for setting up a business. Information should include the entire process enumerated stepwise and bifurcated industry-wise. India has a quasi federal Constitution where the centre and state formulate policies separately and many a times they are not only confusing but overlap. Hence, what acts are applicable to the state/industry/business should be clearly listed. This ‘seva’ can also help startups get details about all taxation and other policy related clarities, which until now required legal advisors, CA and other consultants.

• Connecting entrepreneurs with government departments: Budding entrepreneurs find it challenging to coordinate with government departments for getting a task done. It is a time and resource consuming process for them. With the upcoming Twitter Seva, they want easier accessibility to the government departments. Just dissemination of information will not suffice. It also needs to help connect entrepreneurs to various departments. Industry people tout that many entrepreneurs give up half way once they realise how difficult it is to deal with government officials.

• Engage subject matter experts to answer to specific queries: Apart from hoping to get timely responses to their queries, the entrepreneurs also want government to provide them an access to the subject matter experts. This will help them source information from the reliable sources.

• Help in getting funds: One of the main objectives of Twitter Seva is to help the startups connect to investors. This is one of the biggest challenges that the Indian startups face. Experts opine that information on fund-raising should be the top agenda for the government while operating Twitter Seva. Experts, who can help startups looking to raise fund, can advise through a call centre/video chat. This will help them get going in the fund raising process and also lead to comparatively lesser shut-downs that happen due to lack of funds.

• Help startups network with the ecosystem and partners: One of the things that startups find missing is a platform where they can network with the ecosystem to share their success and failure experiences. Also, connecting with the partners who can help enable the ease of business will be a great help from Twitter Seva, share the startup owners.

Diksha Gupta

Source: TechGig.com