Business

India unveils benefits to boost startups

By Shekhar Chandra

Posted on January 16, 2016

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

New Delhi, Jan 16 (Big Wire): Be it creation of a Rs.10,000 crore fund or tax holiday on profit for three years, India on Saturday announced to offer several key benefits to boost startups scene in the country.

India ranks third in the world in term of startup companies. There are over 4200 startup companies nine of which are valued over a billion dollars.

In the last five years, at least $18 billion have been invested in startups – a half of them only in last year.

Addressing entrepreneurs and owners of different start ups at the concluding session of the Startup India meet at New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated the commitment of his government to ensure startups and business incubators a friendly environment.

Here are key announcements the Prime Minister has made while kick-starting his ambitious startup mission.

1.The government will launch a mobile app and a portal on April 1 and make the registration of startup companies simple and in one day. It will also make clearances, approvals and registrations easy and hassle free.

2. The government will introduce a compliance regime based on self-certification. It will simplify labour laws so that startups do not go through any inspection for three years.

3. It will create a startup India hub and introduce a single point contact so that the government acts as a friend, mentor and guide.

4. The government will create Rs.10,000 crore dedicated funds for startups. Initial corpus will be Rs.2,500 crore.

5. The government will introduce a credit guarantee fund for startups.

6. It will provide income tax exemption on profit to startups for three years to promote growth.

7. It will introduce innovation core programs for school students in five lakh schools.

8. It will also introduce annual incubator grand challenge to create world class incubators. It will also organise national and international startup festivals to provide visibility.

9. Public private partnership (PPP) model would be considered for 35 new incubators, 31 innovation centres at national institutes, 7 new research parks and five new bio-clusters.

10. Under Atal Innovation Mission the government will promote sector-specific incubators, 500 tinkering labs, pre-incubation training and provide seed fund for high-growth.

11. It will introduce faster exits mechanism for startups (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill) so that entrepreneurs can wind up within 90 days.

12. There will be 80 per cent rebate on filing of patent applications by startups, as compared to other companies.

13. It will introduce fast-track mechanism for startup patent applications.

14. The government will create panel of legal facilitators for startups to file IP (patents, designs, and trademarks) and the costs will be borne by the government.

Prime Minister’s speech

Big Wire