Introduction
Start-up India is the government of India’s flagship project launched on 16th January 2016, the government of India has now decided to declare 16th January as ‘National Start-up Day’. It is aimed at creating a robust ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country, which would promote long-term economic growth and provide large-scale job opportunities. The instant blog briefly examine the major initiatives taken by the Government under the banner of Start-up India. A more detailed critique on the ground realities of the implementation of scheme shall soon follow based on readers review.
When a start-up is recognized by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade as part of the initiative, they are eligible for a variety of benefits, including Fast Tracking and rebates on intellectual property applications, three-year income tax exemption, and self-certification under labour and environmental laws, among others. As a result, it’s important to remember that Start-up India was created with the goal of allowing new businesses to present their concepts to the rest of the country.
Start-up India and its implementation
India now boasts the world’s third largest start-up ecosystem, with YoY growth of 12-15 percent predicted in the next years. In 2018, India had over 50,000 start-ups, with around 8,900–9,300 of those being technology-driven. In 2019, alone, 1300 new tech start-ups were formed, meaning that 2-3 new tech start-ups are born every day.
In 2021, money poured into Indian companies in unprecedented amounts. During the 12-month span, the ecosystem shattered all previous fundraising and unicorn-minting records. According to Fintrackr data, the total amount of money invested in Indian start-ups in 2021 was close to $38 billion. This is more than three times the $11.1 billion in total capital garnered by start-ups in 2020.[1]
In order to meet the demands of the start-up ecosystem, the plan has been tailored to the special needs of new businesses, including the creation of new laws, orders under specific statutes, new policies, knowledge centres, and research parks, among other things. Since the inception of the project, there have been several developments that offer a clear picture of how the start-up initiative has been executed so far. The following are some of the major developments:
- Start-up India Hub
- The Start-up Hub team serves as a single point of contact and knowledge exchange platform for the whole start-up ecosystem.
- The Start-up India webpage and Start-up India Twitter seva have answered a total of 1,76,654 enquiries as of March 24, 2020.
- Start-up India Portal and Mobile App
- The Start-up India Portal has 4,04,069 people registered, and the Start-up India Website has had over 7 million views.
- The site has acknowledged a total of 32,304 start-ups through May 31, 2020.
- Legal Support and Fast-tracking Patent Examination at Lower Costs
- Start-ups are now eligible for a refund of 80% on patent filing costs and 50% on trademark filing fees, as well as accelerated evaluation of patent applications to minimize the time it takes to award patents.
- As of the 31st of January 2020, 2,785 patent applications had received an 80 percent filing fee rebate, while 5,494 trademark applications had received a 50 percent filing fee rebate.
- Fast tracking of Patent Applications for start-ups is done by filing a “Request for Expediated Examination” which mandates the Controller to Issue the First Examination Report within 105 days. Further a panel of Facilitators has been empanelled by the controller to assist the start-ups in filing IP Applications.
- As of January 31, 2020, 211 patent facilitators and 241 trademark facilitators have been appointed to provide free services to start-ups under this scheme.
- Funding Support through Fund of Funds
- Small Industries Development Bank of India operates and manages the Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) (SIDBI). The FFS finances Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which then invest twice as much in DPIIT-recognized start-ups than the FFS.
- SIDBI has contributed Rs 3123.20 Cr to 47 SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds as of March 16, 2020. (AIFs).
- Tax Exemption on Investments above Fair Market Value
- When a DPIIT recognized start-up, gets any payment for issuing shares that exceeds the Fair Market Value of such shares, it is free from tax under Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act.
- As of May 27, 2020, notification of receipt of Declaration in Form 2 had been mailed to 2,564 organizations.
- Using Private Sector Expertise to Set Up Incubators
- Under the Atal Incubation Centre’s (AICs) scheme, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is establishing new incubation centers to help innovative start-up businesses grow into scalable and sustainable businesses.
- These incubators provide cutting-edge infrastructure, mentoring, company planning assistance, seed capital, and training sessions, among other things. As of February 29, 2020, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) had chosen 86 incubators across the country for financial assistance through grants in aid.
- National Institutes are establishing Innovation Centers.
- The Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Human Resource Development are coordinating this endeavor.
- 11 TBIs (Technology Business Incubators) have been approved as of March 12th, 2020, with Rs 42.2 crore sanctioned and Rs 20.02 crore given to TBIs.
- The Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Human Resource Development have jointly approved the establishment of 15 Start-up Centers.
- The establishment of seven new research parks
- The Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Human Resource Development are coordinating this endeavor.
- At 7 IITs and IISc Bangalore, 8 new Research Parks will be created during the next 5 years. The Research parks shall be modelled on the Research Park Setup at IIT Madras with the objective to propel successful innovation through incubation.
- As of September 2019, DST has sanctioned INR 575 crore and had disbursed INR 250 crore. However as of now the construction of the said Research Parks have not been started.
- Biotechnology start-ups are being encouraged.
- BIRAC has assisted 1000+ start-ups, entrepreneurs, and SMEs across the nation, resulting in intellectual riches (210+ patents registered) and a healthy pipeline of 130+ marketed goods and technologies.
- In addition, DBT’s flagship program, the “Biodesign program,” has taught over 125 med tech innovators and helped to commercialize five technologies.
- Innovation Focused Programs for Students.
- From around 3.2 lakh submissions submitted from schools, over 50,000 outstanding ideas have been shortlisted for an INSPIRE prize of INR 10,000/- each for the production of a project/model and participation in the District Level Exhibition & Project Competition (DLEPC).
- DST has the potential to foster over 7000 start-ups each year through its incubation program and other innovation and start-up activities.
- As of September 2019, INR 475 crore has been set aside for a two-year period.
- Annual Incubator Grand Challenge
- The Established Incubation Centers (EIC) program of AIM is conducting a “Incubator Grand Challenge” activity to identify these incubators.
- The Atal Innovation Mission has chosen 16 incubators around the country to receive financial assistance in the form of awards. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has chosen 16 incubators around the country to receive financial assistance in the form of grants in aid, and has already given funds of INR 54.65 crores to 9 incubators as of February 29, 2020.
- Each of these incubators will receive INR 10 crore in financial aid, which will be utilized to improve service quality.
Conclusion
The above developments clearly depict how the start-up ecosystem in India has changed after the formulation of the Start-up India initiative. The Start-ups have been provided a better opportunity to put their ideas before the world without taking much risk. The exemptions and the services provided the start-ups have been the key factors in driving the start-up ecosystem in the country. Thus, it can be clearly noted that the scheme formulated by the government of India has been successful in creating a cogent environment for the start-ups to function.
[1] https://entrackr-bucket.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/08095803/2021-Fundingggg.pdf
