May 23, 2016: The Startup Action Plan launched in January by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to be reviewed by the government to assess if it is moving in the right direction. The department of industrial policy and promotion ( DIPP) is collating the progress made on the plan and will share its report with the NITI Aayog.
DIPP officials have so far held two meetings to take stock of the steps undertaken so far. With the revision of patent rules to create a conducive environment for startups, the DIPP has also put together a group of 280 experts, including lawyers and consultants, to assist startups in filing their patent applications.
The definition of startup is also included in amended rules provided for expedited services for patent registration for passing on the special benefits. Besides, the government is also conducting an exercise to map incubation centres across the country in order to ascertain state-wise capacities of incubation and spread the startup movement in tier-II and III cities, and focus especially on the north eastern states.
To provide a single-point contact for the entire startup ecosystem, the DIPP recently launched the startup hub along with the startup portal and mobile appl. The portal will enable startups to avail all the tax benefits announced in the Startup Action Plan. Some of the incentives announced include a tax holiday and ‘inspector rajfree’ regime for three years, capital gains tax exemption and Rs 10,000 crore corpus for funding of startups.
INNOVATION PROJECTS
The government has identified 93 research proposals by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for their innovation potential or possible impact on industry, in just over four months of launching the Startup Action Plan. The proposals have been selected on the basis of their relevance for the industry and businesses.
The DIPP will act as a facilitator in taking forward these research proposals between the IITs and the industry. The proposals were considered under the Ucchattar Avishkar Yojana by the ministries of human resource development (HRD) and science and technology, and the DIPP as part of the Startup Action Plan. The government has earmarked Rs 250 crore per annum towards fostering “very high quality” research among IIT students. Half of this funding will be contributed by the HRD ministry, 25% by the science and technology ministry and 25% by the DIPP.
Each project will be allocated not more than Rs 5 crore. As of now, the scheme is limited only to the IITs. “One of the main objectives of the programme is to promote research and innovation among the young students…This is for the first time that we are building an industry academia link in the country,” said a senior government official.
Also read: Cheaper & Faster Patent Registration For Startups In India
