Context: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched a call for startup applications for registration on the MAARG portal.

MAARG portal - Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth

• It is a one-stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds.

• It is the National Mentorship Platform by Startup India.

• Note: In 2022, India has become the 3rd largest start-up ecosystem in the world after the US and China.

Objectives

• To provide sector-focused guidance, handholding, and support to startups throughout their lifecycle.

• To establish a formalized and structured platform that facilitates intelligent matchmaking between the mentors and their respective mentees.

• To facilitate efficient and expert mentorship for startups and build an outcome-oriented mechanism that allows timely tracking of mentor-mentee engagements.

• It includes customizable mentorship programs for ecosystem enablers, a mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc.

It is being operationalized in three phases:

Phase I: Mentor Onboarding

• Successfully launched and executed, 400+ expert mentors are onboarded across sectors

Phase II: Startup Onboarding

• DPIIT is launching the onboarding of startups on the MAARG Portal with effect from 14th November 2022

Phase III: MAARG Portal Launch and Mentor Matchmaking

• Final launch where the mentors will be matched to the startups DPIIT has initiated the onboarding process of startups under Phase II.