Curtain Raiser

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is organising a national level ‘India Water Pitch-Pilot-Scale Start-up Conclave’ on 12 March, 2022 at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, with an aim to start the communication with Start-ups in water sector. The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep S. Puri will launch ‘India Water Pitch-Pilot-Scale Start-up Challenge’ during the conclave and deliver the keynote address. The Ministry will select 100 start-ups through this challenge, which will be provided Rs.20 lakhs as funding support.

The Prime Minister has launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0) on 01 October, 2021 with the aim of making Indian cities ‘Aatma Nirbhar’ and ‘Water Secure’. The Mission envisages to provide functional water tap connections to all urban households, providing universal household coverage of sewerage/septage services in 500 AMRUT cities, undertaking rejuvenation of water bodies, recycle/ reuse of treated used water, rainwater harvesting and provision of green spaces thereby improving ease of living.

Technology sub-mission is a key component of AMRUT 2.0 which focuses on providing financial anchor as well as mentoring to start-ups to “Pitch, Pilot-and scale” solutions to address water problems in Indian cities. The new and emerging technologies resulting from the thriving start-up ecosystem in India are providing breakthrough solutions for urban water problems which will be harnessed for achieving the objectives of the Mission.

More than 50 Start-ups will pitch/exhibit innovative solutions for urban water problems. User, industry, sector experts and investors will also attend the conclave. This conclave is expected to be a starting point for interaction between user such as States/ cities/ parastatal agencies, start-ups, sector experts and industry. User will also get first-hand experience of innovative solutions.

Shri Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA, Smt. D. Thara, Mission Director and Additional Secretary AMRUT, MoHUA and other senior officials from MoHUA will participate in the Conclave.

Two Panel Discussions are also planned in the Conclave. In the first Panel Discussion on ‘Leveraging Start-up Ecosystem to solve urban challenges’ speakers from Quantela, Paytm, Delhivery, Urban Company, Zoho, Rainmatter Foundation will share their views. In the second Panel Discussion on ‘Industry Platforms for scaling up Start-ups’ speakers form CISCO and Microsoft will participate.