StartUps for Railways

Why in News?

• Indian Railways, the National transporter has taken an important initiative in the field of innovation through participation of start-ups and other entities. Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw has launched “StartUps for Railways” today in Rail Bhavan, New Delhi.

About

• This policy will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance, and infrastructure creation through participation of a very large and untapped startup ecosystem

• Grant up to Rs. 1.5 Crore to innovators on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment

• Complete process from floating of the problem statement to development of the prototype is online with a defined timeline to make it transparent and objective

• Trials of prototypes will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on successful performance of prototypes

• Selection of Innovator/s will be done by a transparent and fair system which will be dealt through an online portal inaugurated today by the Minister of Railways

• Developed Intellectual property rights (IPR) will remain with innovators only

• Assured developmental order to innovators

• De-centralization of complete product development process at divisional level to avoid delays