India is now the most productive startup eco system in the entire world. The Government of India was nudged to release Startup India Action Plan in January 2016 due to the introduction of innovation and entrepreneurship to design the national economic strategy. It was a gigantic step that would stimulate the startups and create robust system of innovation and job creation.
1. What is Startup India Action Plan?
Startup India Action Plan It is a program initiated by the government that aims at supporting young businessmen and establishing the culture of innovations. It will entail eliminating any regulatory barriers, simplifying the law, and providing financial and infrastructural support to the start-ups. The crux of this plan is more or less turning India into a country where people do not seek jobs but are job creators.
It also incorporates the list of 19 points in a plan of action that will address fundamental concerns concerning the Indian startups. The above include funding, regulatory, infrastructure, mentorship and market access.
2. Key Features of Startup India Action Plan
One of the most dominant features of the Startup India Action Plan has been the ease with which business may be created. The new procedure involves the start-ups able to record through the assistance of a comparatively brief cell application or online entry, which saves a lot of paper and time. This single window clearance will provide a boost to efficiency and will help the entrepreneurs give increased focus on innovations and scaling up, rather than handling administrative issues.
The three years to exemptions on income tax out of the first ten years are also enjoyed by the start-ups. This helps young companies, who just started up, to reinvest in their businesses and grow without taxation in its earlier years.
There is also creation by the government of a Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) with a corpus of 10,000 Crore with the aim of inculcating the spirit of innovation. SIDBI is financing this fund and is also handling this fund and the focus area is to provide equity funds to the startups in the early or in the growth stage in order to draw more investors in the ecosystem.
3. Role of Incubator and Research Parks
In Start Up India Action Plan, laying down incubation centers and research parks is given an absolute priority. The facilities additionally provide technical support, business office, mentorship as well as networking. The educational institutions even the IITs and NITs have also been incorporated into the whole scheme and the incubation centers have been coming up and a linkage between the academic circles as well as the industry also been achieved.
Such provision of infrastructural support to the start-ups ensures their convenience of accessing the resources so that they may conceive, develop and commercialize on their products or services successfully.
4. Intellectual Property and Legal Service Assistance
Another crucial factor to the success of startups is to serve as an intellectual property. The government offers low-cost services of accelerated patent check and IPR protection under the initiative of Startup India registration. The startups would be capable of receiving up to 80 percent rebate on registration of patent cost, trademark registration and the legal assistance is offered by the government in the form of the facilitators, which has to be appointed by the government.
This would result in additional business persons patenting and trademarking their products to guard them besides making them more competitive in the market.
5. Public Procurement and Government Tenders
The other unique feature is the waiving off prior experience and turnover in government procurement. There is now a possibility that the start-ups and the established corporations may strive on the same level because they all have an equal opportunity to enter the government tenders. This will help start-ups accelerate faster because they will be able to access larger contracts and customers in the general sector.
6. Worldwide Publicity and Networking
Start-up India has been serving as important too in the organization of start-up fests and exchange programs. Through such encounters, an Indian business man can find a location where he/she can showcase his or her inventions, find investors and meet his international business partners. It also enables the interchange of ideas and the concept of cross-border cooperation that enables the Indian startups to be more competitive in the world.
7. The Impacts of Startup India Action Plan
The entrepreneurial situation in India got significantly changed before the initiation of Startup India Action Plan. Thousands of start-ups have enrolled to the scheme and listed categories, such as, fintech, edtech, agritech, health tech or deep tech.
The initiative has also played a great role in hiring particularly the youth in cities Tier 2 and Tier 3. The action plan implies a collaborative growth of the country, providing a decentralization of opportunities and allowing entrepreneurship ceasing to be concentrated in the metropolitan areas.
Besides that, the rise in the number of venture capital investments and the interest shown by foreigners in Indian ventures serves as a testimony to the experience of this program in the turn of India into the world leader in startups.
Conclusion
Startup India action plan is more of a move towards becoming a self-reliant and innovation driven economy and not just a set of action plan. The government has contributed immensely to the startups environment since it avails financing, facilitation in fulfilling compliance, provision of markets, and assisting in inculcating a culture of innovation.
As India is bound to be one of the economies of the world in future, empowerment of startups will always be a huge part of the development of this nation. Realization of the concept of the country utilizing the potential of the future generation and pursuit of innovation through building of a new future in the Indian entrepreneurship is a good model of the Startup India Action Plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Startup India Action Plan?
Since 2016, it is a government program aimed to facilitate innovation, liberalize rules and policies, and enhance entrepreneurship in India.
2. Which are the tax advantages of startups?
The qualified startups are entitled to 3 years of income tax holiday in their first 10 years in the industry.
3. What is the provision of funding?
SIDBI manages such a Fund of Funds in the amount of 10,000 crores, offering support to the startups via registered venture capital firms.
4. What is the support on patents and the matters of law?
Startups have a 80 per cent rebate on patent fees, expedited IPR processing and inexpensive legal assistance through government-designated facilitators.
5. Are the start ups eligible to bid a government tender?
Yes, they are excused of the past experiences and turnover requirements and therefore they have equal opportunities to participate in government procurement.
