National Missions
Startup India, a flagship initiative of the Govt. of India, is intended to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. This initiative aims to empower Startups to grow through innovation and design. Various measures are being taken to improve the ease of doing business and also building an exciting and enabling environment for the Startups. The Startup India Action Plan was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister in January, 2016 with the hope to accelerate spreading of the Startup movement: From digital/ technology sector to a wide array of sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, social sector, healthcare, education etc. as well as from existing tier 1 cities to tier 2 and tier 3 cities including semi-urban and rural areas. The Action Plan focuses on: Simplification and Handholding, Funding Support and Incentives, and Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.
The ‘Startup India Hub’, a key component in this vibrant ecosystem, was operationalised in April, 2016 to create a single point of contact for the entire Startup ecosystem, enabling knowledge exchange and access to funding and provide handholding support to Startups. A Startup India Online Hub was launched in June, 2017 to serve as the single platform for Startups for interacting with Government and Regulatory Institutions for all business needs as well as information exchange among various stakeholders of the Startup ecosystem, whereby all can collaborate and synergize their efforts.
Startups with limited resources and manpower, can sustain in this highly competitive world only through continuous growth and development oriented innovations, and for this, it is equally crucial that they protect their Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). The scheme for Startup Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) shall facilitate filing of Patents, Trademarks and Designs by innovative Startups. Under this scheme, Patent applicants have received the benefit of up to 80% rebate in patent fees and free legal assistance. Further, in order to create a conducive ecosystem for growth of Startups and provide an equal platform to Startups vis-à-vis the experienced entrepreneurs/companies in public procurement, relaxed norms of public procurement for micro and small enterprises have also been provisioned.
Given the innovative nature of Startups, a significant percentage may fail to succeed. In the event of a business failure, reallocation of capital resources to more productive avenues is critical, and accordingly, a swift and simple process has been proposed for Startups to wind-up operations. This will promote entrepreneurs to experiment with new and innovative ideas, without the fear of facing a complex and long-drawn exit process where their capital remain interminably stuck.