Delhi Budget: Govt Allocates Rs 40Cr for 'Business Blasters' Programme In Schools

Image Credit: ANI

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Monday allocated Rs 40 crore for the 'Business Blasters' scheme for student startups in its Budget 2024-25 tabled in the assembly on Monday.

It also made a budgetary allocation of Rs 15 crore for the 'Business Blasters Senior' programme slated to be launched in all universities soon. Presenting the budget in the Delhi Assembly, Finance Minister Atishi announced an allocation of Rs 16,396 crore for education.

Speaking on the success of the 'Business Blasters' programme, the minister said that in the academic year 2023-24, around 2,40,000 students formed 38,000 teams and worked on their business ideas.

Presenting the @ArvindKejriwal Govt’s 10th Budget for 2024-25 in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha | LIVE #KejriwalKaRamRajya https://t.co/lyOLvjWVnF

— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) March 4, 2024

Atishi, who also holds the education portfolio, said the Delhi government introduced the 'Business Blasters', which is a practical component of the Entrepreneurship Mindset curriculum, considering that only entrepreneurship can alleviate unemployment in the country.

"The goal is to make children so confident and capable that they don't seek employment after their studies but become job creators," she said.
Under 'Business Blasters', students in Classes 11 and class 12 of Delhi government schools are given seed money of Rs 2,000 each so that they can collaborate with their peers to create a business model that can generate profit.

Atishi said that the programme yielded good results and that the students are earning money through their startups on logistics, online gaming portals, bluetooth speakers, dark chocolate, nutritional supplements, and beauty products, among other avenues.

"Anant Sharma was an ordinary student at our government's IIIT-Delhi. In 2019, during his graduation days, he launched a startup called 'Tweek Labs' which harnessed a new discovery in the field of sports technology. His company progressed so much that Anant got a spot on the famous business reality show Shark Tank," Atishi said in the Assembly.

"Anant's story proves that if a talent gets support from the government, the youth can change the world," she added. She further stated that 'Business Blasters Senior' will be launched in all universities in the academic year 2024-25.

"If even 5 per cent of the 40,000 business ideas generated in our schools prove to be successful, Delhi and the country will witness the rise of 2,000 companies after 10 years," she said. The finance minister presented a Rs 76,000-crore budget for FY25, which she claimed to be inspired by the vision of 'Ram Rajya'.