GOOD NEWS FOR INDIA!

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared ‘Invest India’ as winner of the United Nations Investment Promotion Award 2020 in the Institutional category. It recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements of the various Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs)of the world. Since 2002, UNCTAD has organized these awards annually.  It also highlights the contributions of these organizations in raising private sector investment in sustainable development and in achieving the SDGs.

This year the basis of evaluation was the response of IPAs to the COVID-19 pandemic.

INVEST INDIA

It is a non profit venture set up in 2009, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. It is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency in India.

HOW DID IT HELP DURING THE PANDEMIC?

There was a widespread disruption due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 globally and the Indian government took extreme measures of putting the entire country under lockdown. This drastic step drew the Indian economy into battle. However, in these dreary times, Invest India has been instrumental in helping discover innovative startups across India working on solutions against COVID-19 and actively connecting them to sources of funding, technology validation and on-ground deployment opportunities. This helped various start ups to become a force multiplier for the efforts against coronavirus. Invest India has teams handling demand management and adopter connections, across government departments, corporations, foundations and NGOs working at ground level.

This award also recognizes the Indian government\’s efficacious management of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is indeed a proud moment for us and has highlighted the coming age of the Indian innovation ecosystem.