Min: ₹325 cr plan to take 5,000 Delhi student startups from campus to mkt
New Delhi: Delhi’s push to transform classrooms into launchpads for entrepreneurship gathered pace on Friday as Training & Technical Education Minister Ashish Sood unveiled an ambitious Rs.325-crore roadmap to take student ideas from “campus to market” over the next five years. Interacting with the top 100 shortlisted startups at the Delhi Startup Yuva Festival 2026, the minister signalled a shift from policy intent to structured incubation, promising end-to-end institutional backing for young innovators.
The event, hosted at Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women in Kashmere Gate, saw selected student founders present prototypes ranging from tech-enabled public service solutions to product-based innovations.
Addressing the gathering, Sood said the government was committed “not only to providing degrees but also to creating opportunities and platforms for students.” Stressing the importance of entrepreneurship, he added, “Promoting a strong startup culture is the need of the hour. The youth of Delhi possess immense potential which, with the right guidance and resources, can achieve global recognition.”
He underlined that the goal was to encourage students to become “job creators rather than job seekers,” assuring them that the government was strengthening the startup ecosystem through mentorship, training and investment linkages.
Announcing a new “Startup Incubation Policy,” Sood said, “Under this policy, Rs.325 crore will be allocated over the next five years to provide end-to-end support to 5,000 startups from campus to market.” The policy will focus on intellectual property protection, fair valuation, funding access and market linkages.
Nearly 1,000 startups participated in the festival, with 700 making detailed presentations before 100 were shortlisted. Citing innovation in public utility, Sood referred to a student-developed drone adapted for fogging operations and suggested
that similar drones could be deployed by RWAs for surveillance to enhance neighbourhood safety.
Referring to the earlier “Business Blasters” initiative, he said financial assistance of Rs.20,000 per team had been provided to 5,000 school teams, with around Rs.10 crore allocated this year.
“The Government’s objective is not to stop at the idea stage but to provide structured institutional support from ‘Campus to Market’,” Sood said, urging the media to amplify student innovations and help position Delhi as a leading startup capital.
