Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
“Incubators, policy institutions and ecosystem partners must work together to strengthen India’s startup ecosystem and create opportunities for young entrepreneurs,” said Manisha Verma, additional chief secretary, skill, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation department, Government of Maharashtra.
She was speaking at the state-level symposium on “Incubators and the Start-up Ecosystem” organised during DIPEX 2026. The programme was jointly organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Srujan Trust, with Marathwada Accelerator for Growth and Incubation Council (Magic) as co-organiser. Around 40 incubator centres from Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat participated. The inaugural session featured Dr. Apoorva Palkar, founding vice chancellor of Ratan Tata Maharashtra State Skills University, Dr Shrikant Patil CEO of the Maharashtra State Innovation Society, Uttarwar of Srujan Trust and Riya Hindocha, incubation in-charge of DIPEX 2026, who highlighted government support for innovation and student entrepreneurs. An expert dialogue on grassroots innovation and financial inclusion featured Neel Kumar and Dr Ravi Kumar from NITI Aayog, and Parvathi Murthy of the National Stock Exchange of India. A panel discussion on deep-tech startups included Milind Marathe, chairman of the National Book Trust, Umesh Rathod, and entrepreneur Vinay Chawla. The latest edition of MAGIC’s newsletter “Discover MAGIC” was also released during the programme.