Start-ups to get grants for cybersecurity solutions

New Delhi: In a major move aimed at giving a push to secure digital transactions, the government has decided to offer PhD scholarships in the cybersecurity to candidates from Asia Pacific, who pursue a doctorate in any of the 100 leading universities in India, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institutes of Science (IISc).

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which is headed by Cabinet Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, is in the process of working with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) to offer challenge grants for cybersecurity to encourage start-ups to develop innovative technologies.

Announcing the decision, Prasad said, "Cybersecurity is a big emerging trend, and India's digital economy is on the highway of great growth. The government would provide Rs 5 crore in a grant for start-ups to come up with new solutions in the field of cybersecurity."

"We must encourage more and more research in cyberspace. The government of India will promote full PhD research in cybersecurity for students from Asia Pacific countries. We will fund and encourage them to conduct good cybersecurity research," Prasad said at the first Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) Open Conference in India, the first in South Asia.

The Minister said that innovation in cybersecurity was a big focus area for the Narendra Modi government. "There were more than 100 cybersecurity product companies in the country at present. It was proposed that in public procurements, preference would be given by all procuring entities in the government to domestically manufactured/produced cybersecurity products," the minister stated.

India was selected to be part of the steering committee of APCERT along with Australia, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan to shape the agenda for the next two years across the region.