New Delhi, Jun 30 (IANS): Change of mindset and exploration of regional resources are the key to build a startup ecosystem in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.

Addressing the ‘National StartUp Conference RASE 2024’ at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, the minister said the agriculture sector can be the main area of startups in the region.

Citing the example of ‘Aroma Mission’, Dr Singh said the ‘Purple Revolution’ was born in the small towns of Bhaderwah and Gulmarg, and is now being talked about countrywide.

Nearly 5,000 youngsters have taken up lavender farming as agri startups and are making handsome incomes in the region.

"Some of the youngsters working in the corporate sector have also left their jobs and turned to lavender farming. The success of the ‘Aroma Mission’ is vindicated from the fact that the example of J&K is also now being emulated by Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and some of the northeastern states," said the minister.

Dr Singh said that the startup movement in India has picked up in a big way in the last one decade and the credit for this primarily goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who gave a call for ‘Startup India Stand-up India’ from the ramparts of Red Fort during his Independence Day address in 2015.

At that time, the minister recalled, the number of startups in the country was just 350-400 and today, it has gone up to 1.5 lakh and the country is rated number three globally in the startup ecosystem.

As far as J&K is concerned, it could be possible to explore the areas of agri startups in the floriculture sector too, for which the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has started a floriculture mission, according to Dr Singh.

The minister also referred to handcraft, horticulture and textile startups as rich domains of J&K, saying that the Ministry of Science and Technology is committed to supporting startups in various sectors in J&K.