Addressing the inaugural Tribal Business Conclave in New Delhi on Wednesday (November 12, 2025), Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced that the application fee for Geographical Indications (GI tag) has been reduced to ₹1,000 from ₹5,000. He urged tribal artisans to register and protect traditional products and crafts. He further secured his ministry’s support in creating export and e-commerce linkages for tribal enterprises as well as international warehouses for their products.
Organized by the Department of Tribal Affairs and Culture and the Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT) at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, the conclave featured panel discussions and masterclasses on topics such as innovation funding for tribal enterprises and investment in tribal enterprises, partnerships, industry-skill linkages.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Goyal said that schools, universities, industries and the government “must work together” to ensure that products made by tribal artisans and craftsmen reach larger domestic and global markets. The commerce minister further assured the “full support” of his ministry and DPIIT in this mission by creating export and e-commerce linkages and facilitating international warehouses for staple goods.
The conclave was held as part of the Government of India’s Janjatiya Gaurav Varsh celebrations to mark the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda. Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for coming up with the initiative to celebrate the icon’s birth anniversary in this way.
Mr. Oram pointed out that when he became the country’s first tribal affairs minister at the turn of the 21st century, the country barely had the means to understand what these communities were capable of, what products they could produce and what national wealth lay in that knowledge. He said that this conclave is a new opportunity to bring all this to the world.
Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Durgadas Uikey added, “This ‘Tribal Business Conclave’ is not just a conference but a movement – a unique step towards tribal society’s economic self-sufficiency, market access and global recognition.
Explaining the concept behind organizing this Tribal Business Conclave, Himani Pande, Additional Secretary, DPIIT said, “The idea was to get tribal businesses and get them to work with formalized financial mechanisms because that’s one of the problems we find is non-availability of credit. There were pitch meetings where such businesses were pitched. There were other important interactions with financial organizations on how they can promote them. better.”
Some of the topics covered by the panel discussions included branding, market access and value creation; sustainability and geographical identity; financing innovation and equity; and art, identity and Indigenous expression. There were also masterclasses on building value chains for forest production, microenterprise readiness index, tribal innovation, aesthetics, global branding and structuring social capital for community-led growth.
A total of 115 businesses were selected at the conclave after two rounds of presentations at the Roots to Rise event, the commerce ministry said in a statement. Of these, 43 already had DPIIT registrations, the ministry said, adding that 10 incubators had agreed to provide support to these selected businesses. The government also said that 57 businesses received investment interest from more than 50 venture capitalists and investors who participated with a total commitment of over ₹10 crore.
“These start-ups and businesses have created around 1,500 direct jobs and more than 10,000 indirect jobs, which cumulatively serve more than 20,000 tribal people in various sectors,” the ministry said.
GI mark certificates for handicrafts and products like Kannadippaya (bamboo mat) from Kerala, Apatani textiles from Arunachal Pradesh, Marthandam honey from Tamil Nadu, Lepcha Tungbuk from Sikkim, Bodo Aronai from Assam, Ambaji white marble from Gujarat and gtheerak from Gujarat were also distributed during the event on Wednesday.
Further, at the conclave, Gramya Yuva Arth Niti (GYAN) was also launched. GYAN is an interactive public policy lab to use real-time pilot projects, policy frameworks, digital innovation and capacity building to “create scalable solutions for inclusive and sustainable business growth”. The government said the lab would launch pilot projects such as the Tribal Entrepreneurship Index and micro-equity-based incubation models over the next year, calling it a collaboration between government, academia and industry.
The Tribal Affairs Ministry also announced the Tribal Affairs Grand Challenge at the conclave, inviting start-ups and businesses to design solutions for tribal communities.
Published – 12 Nov 2025 21:21 IST
