Now Reading: Conflict of interest in startup funding panel ‘unavoidable’, TDB says
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Conflict of interest in startup funding panel ‘unavoidable’, TDB says
The government disclosed in Parliament on July 30 that members of a Technology Development Board (TDB) expert panel had financial links to companies they approved for public funds. TDB secretary Rajesh Pathak…
The Story in Brief
The government disclosed in Parliament on July 30 that members of a Technology Development Board (TDB) expert panel had financial links to companies they approved for public funds. TDB secretary Rajesh Pathak called conflict of interest 'unavoidable' on Friday, saying it can be 'managed' through recusal rules and supermajority voting. The panel includes 11 voting members linked to firms such as Noccarc Robotics, Ather Energy and Tejas Networks. The TDB is a key agency under the Centre's ₹1 lakh crore RDI Fund, which uses private-sector fund managers to back high-risk tech startups. As of July, the board approved ₹2,192 crore for 22 projects.
The Indian Opinion
The TDB secretary calls conflict of interest 'unavoidable' and 'manageable', but a disclosure listing eight startups linked to committee members tests that claim. Recusal rules and supermajority votes sound good on paper, but the real test is transparency. If the public can see who recused when and why funding still went through, trust may hold. Without that, this looks less like a managed risk and more like a closed club.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
