Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge 'denied' clearance by Centre to attend US events: 'Will seek explanation'

Karnataka’s IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge has been allegedly denied permission for his official visit to the US, by the Indian government.  The minister was to attend the BIO International Convention in Boston (June 16-19) and ⁠the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco (June 22-25).

Kharge, who is currently on an official visit to France from June 11 to 16 to participate in Viva Technology (VivaTech), the Paris Air Forum and the Paris Air Show, refused to elaborate on the issue and in an X post stated, "I’m holding back on making any public statements for now. Once I’m back in Bengaluru, I will seek a clear explanation from the Government of India regarding this denial."

The nature of the denial is not known, as the minister's office is yet to clarify the issue. 

Kharge, who represented India at VivaTech, Europe’s largest startup and innovation summit was specially invited to launch the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2025 (GSER), developed by Startup Genome.

"Bengaluru jumped 7 spots to rank 14 in the Global Startup Index. This ranking is not just a number, it reflects the structural resilience and readiness of Karnataka’s innovation economy. Bengaluru has always been a builder's city and our rise in the GSER shows how our ecosystem’s potential is translating into global outcomes," said Kharge, during the event.

The GSER ranks ecosystems based on performance, funding, market reach, talent and experience, knowledge and emerging AI-native strength and the 2025 edition of the report highlights a significant power shift in global innovation, with rising Asian and mid-sized hubs making strong gains.

Bengaluru’s transition from a “rising star” to a top-tier global startup hub, places it shoulder-to-shoulder with global leaders like Paris (#12), Philadelphia (#13) and Seattle (#15).

During a panel discussion on the future of startup ecosystems and the disruptive rise of AI-native innovation, Kharge highlighted Karnataka’s pyramid model approach to embracing this disruption from foundational infrastructure to top-tier innovation leadership.

Outlining the state’s strategy to build a future-ready, inclusive AI economy, he said, “The state is democratising AI R&D and compute infrastructure through INNOVERSE, Karnataka government’s open innovation platform, while spreading regional innovation via the Beyond Bengaluru mission, ensuring tier-2 and tier-3 cities become startup-ready. ‘Nipuna Karnataka - India’s first state-backed deep-tech skilling program for talent retention and reskilling targets one million professionals. We have been fostering corporate-startup collaboration through a growing GCC (Global Capability Center) network, making Bengaluru a top global hub for enterprise innovation. We are focussing on deep tech financing via dedicated budget allocations and startup grant schemes targeting AI, biotech and robotics and critically deploying ethical AI tools in governance.

At the Paris Air Forum, Kharge stated that India was currently the third-largest civil aviation market in terms of global air traffic (2024) and continues to lead as the fastest-growing domestic aviation market. “The Indian aviation sector is valued at $14.8 billion in 2025, with projections indicating growth to $26.1 billion by 2030, reflecting a CAGR of approximately 12%. The industry contributes significantly to the economy, with a direct GDP impact of $6 billion and an indirect contribution of nearly $54 billion. It also supports 370,000 direct jobs and 7.7 million indirect jobs. We have just beginning to scratch the surface and this has a huge potential. Karnataka is well positioned to take complete advantage of the opportunity in aviation, aerospace and space,” said Kharge, adding that it was “encouraging” to see global stakeholders recognising the potential of our aerospace and defence ecosystem at the Paris Air Show. 

India