The government has recognised over 250 incubators that provide recommendation for start-ups to get various benefits, and is also launching a module to recognise more incubators to cater for the increasing need for such entities, commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday, as it ramps ups efforts to realise an ambitious target of almost tripling the number of start-ups to over 12,000 by 2020.
The minister added seven proposals for research parks, 16 proposals for technology business incubators and 13 proposals for start-up centres have been recommended by the National Expert Advisory Committee set up by the ministry of human resources, which will be implemented in the current fiscal itself to boost the start-up eco-system.
The absence of adequate number of incubators across the country has been cited by analysts as a key reason for the limited progress in the disbursement of financial incentives to promote eligible start-ups. An entity wishing to avail itself of benefits under the start-up policy needs to apply to the government to be recognised as a start-up, and one of the documents required for this is a recommendation letter from a government-recognised incubator. So the number of incubators has to be increased substantially. The government has roped in IITs, IIMs and other established institutes to do this job.
As per the DIPP data, of the 571 applications received as on June 30 for availing of benefits under the scheme, only 106 of these had the required documents. And just 12 applications could be considered for tax benefits as only these start-ups were incorporated after April 1, 2016, as stipulated under the scheme. Nevertheless, the government has stepped up efforts to increase the number of such incubators and is considering roping in established colleges for this purpose.
Addressing the Start-up India conference in New Delhi on Saturday in which five states — Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka – participated, Sitharaman said the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has written to top 50 companies, requesting them to support the initiative under their CSR activities by setting up new incubators or scale up existing incubators in collaboration with educational institutes.
India is the world’s youngest start-up nation with 72% founders less than 35 years, and is home to 4,400 of start-ups, the highest after the US and the UK.
