Latest news with #SivarajahRamanathan
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Digital entrepreneurship meet in Madurai stresses inclusive growth, women's role in tech
Madurai: The Digital Entrepreneurship Conference organised by Indian Women Network (IWN) Tamil Nadu and IWN Madurai Zone on Wednesday brought together over 270 delegates from industry, government, academia, and associations across the state. Delivering the chief guest address, IT and digital services minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan highlighted Tamil Nadu's 11.9% economic growth and the monthly scholarship scheme that has benefitted over two lakh girls from corporation high schools. He reaffirmed the CM's vision of inclusive growth with social justice and women's empowerment. StartupTN CEO Sivarajah Ramanathan spoke on the state's evolving startup ecosystem. IWN leaders Gowri Kailasam and Savitha Jagadeesan called for greater visibility, collaboration, equal access to technology, and scaling women-led enterprises globally. CII Madurai Zone chairman Ashwin Desai urged women to lead as innovators and mentors, while IWN Madurai convenor Poornima Venkatesh stressed knowledge-sharing and collaborative leadership. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. "Get the latest news updates on Times of India, including reviews of the movie Coolie and War 2 ."
The Hindu
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
HCL Foundation inks MoUs with T.N. govt. on vocational education, entrepreneurship
HCL Foundation, which drives the corporate social responsibility agenda of global technology company HCL Tech in India, has signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with two departments of the Government of Tamil Nadu. One is with StartupTN and the other with the Department of Employment and Training (DET), to enhance entrepreneurship and vocational education in the State. StartupTN, under the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of Tamil Nadu, promotes innovation and start-ups and operates as a registered Section 8 company. 'Through this collaboration, we aim at supporting 100 startups over the next three years — providing mentoring, incubation, market linkage, and liaison support to help them scale and succeed,' said Sivarajah Ramanathan, CEO & Mission Director, StartupTN. This MoU for three years aims at fostering entrepreneurship among Tamil Nadu's youth, promote inclusive innovation and strengthen the State's start-up ecosystem for sustainable development and economic growth. The second MoU is a renewal of an existing collaboration and was signed between the Department of Employment and Training (DET), Government of Tamil Nadu, and HCL Foundation. The agreement was formalized by B. Vishnu Chandran, Director of Employment and Training, and Nidhi Pundhir, SVP of Global CSR at HCL Tech and Director of HCL Foundation. This five-year initiative aims at strengthening the vocational education system in the State through several measures, including the deployment of a 'Skill Rath' (mobile lab and awareness unit) to increase outreach in communities, the upgradation of curriculum in select trades, training programs for both students and trainers of Government ITIs and the promotion of sports to encourage holistic development. 'As India advances in technological innovation, it is imperative that our youth are equipped with future-ready skills such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and other emerging technologies,' Mr. Chandran said. 'By providing access to vocational education and supporting startups, we aim at creating sustainable opportunities that will contribute to the holistic development of the State,' said Nidhi Pundhir.
The Hindu
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
T.N. government aims to take start-ups to villages, says StartupTN CEO
The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (StartupTN) will be launching a scheme called Gramam Thorum Puthozhil (Establishing Start-ups in Villages) this year, focusing on inclusive entrepreneurship, rural innovation, and sustainable economic growth. 'We want to take the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship to villages,' Sivarajah Ramanathan, Mission Director and Chief Executive Officer, StartupTN, said in a fireside chat on 'Harnessing Innovation: Tamil Nadu's Role in the Global Startup Ecosystem.' The session was moderated by Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu. Highlighting the various initiatives of StartupTN, Mr. Ramanathan said: 'Our primary mandate is to create a good ecosystem for start-up companies to start and grow in the State. We are creating funding schemes; we are working with Venture Capitalists to connect with start-ups. Our policy focuses on three major inclusive aspects — gender inclusivity, caste inclusivity, and geographical inclusivity. We have over 40 different schemes,' he added. Throwing statistics on how the start-up ecosystem has grown over the last three years, Mr. Ramanathan said Tamil Nadu currently had over 10,700 start-ups. 'This is a 5x growth. When we started, we were at the last in the national rankings but now we are competing with States such as Karnataka and Maharashtra,' he said. When the moderator asked him about the yardstick used to define start-ups, he said: 'In 2023, the Government of Tamil Nadu introduced a policy that slightly modified the Government of India's definition of a start-up. While the Centre defines a start-up as being less than 10 years old with a turnover of less than ₹100 crore, Tamil Nadu's policy revised the turnover threshold to ₹50 crore.' 'Additionally, to support social impact, Tamil Nadu's definition expands beyond new innovations. For example, while e-commerce may no longer be considered an innovation, if a marginalised community — such as a tribal one — is using an online platform to sell their products, it qualifies as a start-up to us. The key criteria are that the start-up should benefit the community members,' Mr. Ramanathan added. The event is presented by SRM Institute of Science and Technology, co-presented by StartupTN and in association with Sify Technologies. Retail GPT is the phygital commerce partner; Tally the technology partner; CII the strategic partner; ITC Mangaldeep the fragrance partner; and Puthiya Thalaimurai the TV partner.
