Indian Government has been encouraging farmers by giving them loans for farming and even granting Debt relief depending on the crops harvested. Last year on Independence day PM Narendra Modi announced ‘Start up India, Stand up India’. Youth of India must turn from job-seekers to job-creators, says Narendra Modi.
Finally, after 5 months Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on 16th January, inaugurated “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Start up India Stand up India” plan at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. Over 1,000 entrepreneurs gathered at the meet.
In case you’ve missed the event, the entire event is available to watch here.
The Human Resource Development Ministry and the Department of Science and Technology are extending support as partners to set up over 75 such start up support hubs in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and NIPERs or National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research. With 4,200 startups India ranks 3rd globally after US and UK but India still ranks 1st in Asia to send Scientist and Engineers to the US: Report.
So to increase the former number and decrease the later one, India planned ‘Start Up India, Stand Up India’ initiative. The part Stand up India stands for the scheme to bring up women and SC/ST entrepreneurs.
What is Startup India offering to the Entrepreneurs?
- Stand Up India backed up by Department of Financial Services (DFS) intents to bring up Women and SC/ST entrepreneurs. They have planned to support 2.5 lakh borrowers with Bank loans( with at least 2 borrowers in both the category per branch) which can be returned up to seven years.
- PM Modi announced that “There will be no income tax on startups’ profits for three years”
- You will be able to register a start up in a day using the app Narendra Modi. You just have to fill a small application. This mainly tries to reduce the tedious process of Registering. They are currently working on minimizing the time spend in Licensing process of Start ups but nothing has been announced regarding the same.
- Also a fast track mechanism is to be launched for filing patents for startups, promised by PM Modi. “There will be no compromise on quality but the idea is to give the new enterprises opportunities” he added.
- PM plans to reduce the involvement of state government in the start ups so that entrepreneurs can enjoy freedom.
- No tax would be charged on any start up up to three years from the day of it’s establishment once it has been approved by Incubator.
What qualifies as a Start up?
An idea or business laid not before five years and should necessarily be located in India. Also, the annual turnover for that respective company should be less than Rs. 25 crores.
According to the needs the loan of 10 Lakhs to 100 lakhs can be granted.
Needs to get approval from inter-ministerial board to be eligible for tax benefits.
Get recommendation from an Incubator recognised by government, domestic venture fund or have an Indian patent.
Who is funding Start up India?
The Indian Government has sanctioned Rs. 10,000 crore for the initial stage.
Google stood by Start Up India and as an encouragement Google short-listed five innovative startups who pitched their ideas live to a panel of judges comprising of key VCs, global Google leaders and Government representatives. Those five startups pitching to Google were:
- Reap Benefit: https://youtu.be/eYbcLm1KWEo
- Cardiac Design Labs: https://youtu.be/4J5Ob8bTPWE
- Guruglearning: https://youtu.be/5hQksij5NbE
- SlamdunQ: https://youtu.be/TTSYbBbLVLU
- Kaalink.sbalabs.co: https://youtu.be/2iTYgyJJCjc
Google also asked its users to vote. Health start up Cardiac Design Labs won $100,000 prize in Google credits and the People’s Choice Award winner was Guru-G an edu-tech firm.
Investors raised $9 billion into Indian start ups in 2015 that number became $38 million in the first 10 days of 2016.
Realising The capacity of India, Google has made long term commitment and promised to encourage even the small scale start-ups.
Japan’s SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son promised to ramp up its investments to $10 billion in Indian Start ups.
Noticeable Things about the Program
Nine Indian start-ups have been valued at more than a billion dollars.
Some of the big names include Masayoshi Son, CEO, and Nikesh Arora, President and COO, SoftBank, Travis Kalanick, Founder, Uber, and Adam Nuemann, CEO, WeWork. Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, ShopClues founder Radhika Agarwal, and Oyo Rooms’ Ritesh Agarwal.
80% rebate (amount returned as refund) on filing of patent application by start ups as compared to other companies.
Faster exits for start ups (Insolvency and bankruptcy bill). They assure that the entire wind up will be done in 90 days.
There will be innovation core programs for students in 5 lakh schools.
National and international startup festivals will be held to promote the start ups and gain investments.
Answering the general queries:
- How to make use of this campaign if I am a startup or entrepreneur?
This plan benefits startups on so many levels. I biggest benefit, of course, is that you can apply for the Start Up India, Stand Up India plan and get a loan from Government.
All the essential updates are accessible on Narendra Modi app or on the official site. (heads-up: Every Time we tried to access it, the server was down. We hope it’s temporary!). We have mentioned the criteria for applying above.
- What is Start Up India going to do for me?
To quote Start Up India they are ANGEL INVESTOR, INCUBATOR AND CONSULTANT. Investor– They are not GOING TO GIVE YOU MONEY. They will invest their time, expertise(their team of experts includes BASELINE(Research, MIS (Management Information System and Data Handling), CLARUS Law and many more. They are still recruiting you can apply here.) for TWO YEARS to make your growth-stage ventures scale.
They also claim to present you with their contacts so that you can get investments as much as you deserve. It is at last VCs (Venture Capital) which is going to fund you. Although, this plan does not encourage private Investors which can be an issue of concern.
Incubator: They claim to offer you coaching and training. So basically, you can contact them even if you have just a strong idea, belief and will to put efforts.
Consultants: They will consult mature-stage social ventures and help them grow.
- What kind of new businesses or startups qualifies this plan?
Since the main reason behind this initiative is to encourage Start-ups in India and minimize UNEMPLOYMENT. Those applications which provide employment to few people has a slight edge over the one man plan. Your idea needs to be innovative and you should have a well-laid plan. They have promised to promote Start Ups in every sector.
How to Register?
Start Up India Official application is expected to be launched on 1st April for the registration of Start Up in one day.
Are they planning to encourage Unicorn companies to list in India?
Basically, a Unicorn company is a billion dollars company. As it had been reported repeatedly that most of the Unicorn companies are no longer based in India instead they are Singapore-domiciled. There have been no words by Government on preventing the re-domiciling.
Useful media resources to stay in touch of the updates made by Stand Up India:
- Startup India Twitter handle.
- Official Website Start Up The first step in social change
- Facebook page.
- YourStory is keeping up its commitment as a partner with Start Up India by covering every update on the subject in 15 articles by far.
A survey conducted by YourStory made it clear that funds are not the only thing Entrepreneurs want from Start Up India, Stand Up India.
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