To encourage the startup culture in the country, The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has launched a call for startup applications for registration on the MAARG portal, the National Mentorship Platform by Startup India.

The purpose of the application is to further boost the startup ecosystem by catalysing the startup culture and building a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

MAARG portal, (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth) is a one-stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds.

The MAARG is being operationalized in three phases which include, Mentor Onboarding, Startup Onboarding, and MAARG Portal Launch and Mentor Matchmaking.

It also helps to facilitate efficient and expert mentorship for startups and build an outcome-oriented mechanism that allows timely tracking of mentor-mentee engagements.

The ministry said that startups can now effectively connect with academicians, industry experts, successful founders, seasoned investors, and other experts from across the globe, through Artificial Intelligence (AI) based matchmaking, to get personalised guidance on growth and strategy.

The key features of the MAARG portal include customisable mentorship programmes for ecosystem enablers, mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc., it added.

In a statement, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said, “Innovations are the inevitable engines of growth for a nation, and India alone is home to more than 82,000+ DPIIT recognised startups and over 107 Unicorns. Entrepreneurship is the foundation of our great nation’s economic wealth and prosperity, and we are quickly transforming from a nation of job seekers to a nation of job creators."

Image source: Maarg website