Over the weekend, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi unveiled an action plan (PDF) to help boost startup growth in the country as part of the government’s ‘Startup India, Standup India’ initiative.
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Startups will be allowed to certify compliance with labor and environment laws and will not be subject to inspections for the first three years.
It would be appropriate to highlight that one has to keep the fingers crossed about the feasibility of adequate success of startup India campaign, particularly considering the fact that several of other pet themes of Mr. Narendra Modi such as Clean India campaign, Make in India announced with similar fanfare and hope, have not yet achieved the big breakthrough expected of them, for whatever reasons. In my view, the most striking was the announcement of a mobile app for startup registration.
#4 Startup India Hub: Understanding that many Startups do not reach their full potential due to limited guidance and access, the Government of India has chose to create a single point of contact, Startup India Hub, for the entire startup ecosystem and enable knowledge exchange and access to funding.
To promote awareness and adoption of IPRs by Startups, Government is taking various steps that includes fast-track examination of patent applications and rebate in fees.
It is yet to be seen how Prime Minister would be able to motivate the financing institutions to help the startup entrepreneurs, with complete understanding.
To sum up, the Startup India initiative is a promising venture, undertaken by the government to make India a leader in startups, who will boost the country’s economy. The private professionals from industry bodies, academia, and successful startups will take charge of the fund. The fund will focus on the areas like manufacturing, agriculture, health, and education.
Companies set up after April 1 this year will be exempted from income tax for three years. In addition to this government will also take care of cost of trademarks and protection of its intellectual property and designs for a startup.
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India Inc on Saturday said the incentive announced under the action plan for start-ups will encourage a large number of young entrepreneurs to come up with more and more innovative ventures. It will also organise mentorship programs and will assist startups with respect to different aspects such as obtaining financing, feasibility testing, business structuring advisory, enhancement of marketing skills, technology commercialization and management evaluation.
