Startup India initiative aims at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting innovation by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of Startups. The objective is that India must become a nation of job creators instead of being a nation of job seekers.

Fostering a fruitful culture of innovation in the country is a long and important journey. This initiative will go a significant way in reiterating Government of India’s commitment to making India the hub of innovation, design and Startups.

Startup India is an initiative of the Government of India. The campaign was first announced by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi during his 15 August 2015 address from the Red Fort, in New Delhi.

The 19-point Action Plan, organized by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), focuses both on restricting hindrances and promoting faster growth by way of:

• Simplification and Handholding.
• Funding Support and Incentives.
• Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.

An additional area relating to this initiative is to discard restrictive States Government policies within this domain, such as License Raj, Land Permissions, Foreign Investment Proposals, and Environmental Clearances. It was organized by The Department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPI&IT).

A startup defined as an entity that is headquartered in India, which was opened less than 10 years ago and has an annual turnover of fewer than ₹100 crores (US$14 million).Under this initiative, the government has already launched the I-MADE program, to help Indian entrepreneurs build 10 lakh (1 million) mobile app start-ups, and the MUDRA Bank‘s scheme (Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana), an initiative which aims to provide micro-finance, low-interest rate loans to entrepreneurs from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The initial capital of ₹20,000 crores (equivalent to ₹230 billion or US$3.2 billion in 2019) has been allocated for this scheme.

The event was inaugurated on 16 January 2016 by The Former Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley. Among the attendees were CEOs, startup founders and venture capitalists.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Department of Science and Technology have agreed to partner in an initiative to set up over 75 such startup 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 National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs).

The Reserve Bank of India said it will take steps to help improve the ‘ease of doing business’ in the country and contribute to an ecosystem that is conducive for the growth of start-up businesses.

Soft Bank, which is headquartered in Japan, has invested US$2 billion into Indian startups. The Japanese firm has pledged to invest US$10 billion. Google declared to launch a startup, based on the highest votes in which the top three startups will be allowed to join the next Google Launchpad Week, and the final winner could win an amount of US$100,000 in Google cloud credits. Oracle on 12 February 2016 announced that it will establish nine incubation centres in Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida, Pune, Trivandrum and Vijayawada. Rs 1000 crore Fund of Funds for startups are reserved for women-led startups.

Kerala has initiated a government startup nodal agency called “Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM)”. KSUM supports startup ecosystem by means of different components such as Infrastructure, Human Capital Development, Funding, Governance, Public-Private Partnership, Global collaborations, Scaling Existing and Establishing New startup ventures from Startup-Boot Up-Scale up model for moving fast from ideas to IPO. It launched the largest Incubation space name Integrated Startup Complex in 2018 at the Kerala Technology Innovation Zone, Cochin. The state also matches the funding raised by its incubator from Central government with 1:1.

Telangana has launched the largest incubation centre in India as “T-Hub“.

Andhra Pradesh has allocated a 17,000-sq.ft. Technological Research and Innovation Park as a Research and Development laboratory. It has also created a fund called “Initial Innovation Fund” of ₹100 crores (US$14 million) for entrepreneurs.

The government of Madhya Pradesh has collaborated with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to create a fund of ₹200 crores (US$28 million).

Rajasthan has launched “iStart Rajasthan” & India’s largest business incubation centre – “Bhamashah Techno Hub“.

In order to promote start-ups in Odisha, the state government organised a two-day Start-up Conclave in Bhubaneswar on November 28, 2016.

Startup India’s 19-Point Action Plan

• Self-certification Compliance
• Single Point of Contact via Startup India Hub
• Simplifying Processes with Mobile App and Portal (for registration, filing compliances & obtaining information)
• Legal Support, Fast Tracking & 80% reduction in patent registration fee
• Relaxed Norms of Public Procurement
• Easier & Faster Exit
• Funding Support via a Fund of Funds corpus of INR 10,000 crore
• Credit Guarantee Funding
• Tax Exemption on Capital gains
• 3-Year Income Tax Exemption
• Tax Exemption on Investments above Fair Market Value (FMV)
• Annual Startup Fests (national & international)
• Launch of World-class Innovation Hubs under Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)
• Set up of country-wide Incubator Network
• Innovation Centres to augment Incubation and R&D
• Research Parks to propel innovation
• Promote Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology
• Innovation Focused Programs for Students
• Annual Incubator Grand Challenge

In the words of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi:

Startup India is a revolutionary scheme that has been started to help the people who wish to start their own business. These people have ideas and capability, so the government will give them support to make sure they can implement their ideas and grow. Success of this scheme will eventually make India, a better economy and a strong nation.