India’s Startup Story: Building Nation with Youth Power & Innovation

Talking about Startup , one needs to head back to think of the young mind. As a young mind, many ideas, opinions and views come to our mind to see and create future for ourselves and in turn for the society and the nation. There have been many complex situations where we have an inherent fear about starting up on a project especially when it involves requirement of funds for starting up a business venture.

 

What if my idea is not just an idea at all? What if my idea materialises and sees the light, but where do I get my project funding from? How will I get the loan for the business initiative? What are the ways to nurture it? etc. are some of the questions which may come to our minds.

 

 

 

In order to nurture innovation and Startups in the country and drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities, the Government of India initiated Startup India as a flagship initiative to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups. The Government through such initiative aims to empower Startups to grow through innovation and design.

 

An action plan to address all the aspects of the Startup ecosystem was formulated in 2016 under the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He viewed Startups, Technology & Innovation as exciting and effective instruments for India’s transformation. With such an affirmative action, the Government hopes to accelerate spreading of the Startup movement in India through the following approaches:

 

 

 

As per the broad definition, Startup means an entity such as the Private Limited Company (under The Companies Act, 2013) or a Registered Partnership Firm (under The Indian Partnership Act, 1932) or Limited Liability Partnership (under The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008), incorporated or registered in India not prior to Ten years (earlier 5 years in action plan), with turnover not exceeding INR 100 crore in any of the financial year since inception, working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property. The Government of India gazette notification dated 19-02-2019 gives the details of the Startup. It is such an entity which is not formed by splitting up, or reconstruction, of a business already in existence. Such a measure protects smaller enterprises from the competition of bigger players such as Large Industrial houses, MNCs, Conglomerates etc. and promotes a very healthy competition and development of Startup Ecosystem.

 

Needless to state that in order to boost the growth on the basis of incentive based approach to promote a Startup, the action plan also specified that a Startup shall be eligible for tax benefits only after it has obtained certification from the Inter-Ministerial Board, setup for such purpose. An Inter-Ministerial Board is setup by the Department For Promotion Of Industry And Internal Trade (DIPP) to validate the innovative nature of the business for granting tax related benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The action plan first focused on Simplification & Handholding process and as a cardinal approach of ‘No Tunnel, Only Light’ it gave the neo-entrepreneurs the required leverage for their businesses. This enabled it to reduce the regulatory burden, create single point contacts and platforms, promote awareness and adoption of IPRs while providing an equal platform and make it easier for Startups to wind up the operations. This was envisioned for allowing the Startups to focus on their core business and keep compliance cost & time low.

 

Present day Youth including the ‘Yountrepreneurs’ (For Young Entrepreneurs) today have more confidence to venture out on their own. Taking a cue the Startup policy provides a conducive ecosystem to watch their ideas come to life.

 

As the data shows, today we have more Startups and entrepreneurs than ever before. However, it is also important to see that many Startups do not reach their full potential due to limited guidance and access. Taking a cue from this, the Government of India has taken various measures to improve the ease of doing business and is also building an exciting and enabling environment for these Startups, with the launch of the “Startup India” movement. The “Startup India Hub” has been the key stakeholder in this vibrant ecosystem to work in tandem as hub and spoke model and collaborate with Central & State governments, Indian and foreign VCs, angel networks, banks, incubators, legal partners, consultants, universities and R&D institutions. In short, the Startup India Hub will do the handholding of Startups.

 

In order to serve as the single platform for Startups for interacting with Government and Regulatory Institutions for all business needs and information exchange among various stakeholders, a user friendly and easily accessible Mobile App and Portal has been created.

 

  

 

 

With changing perceptions over entrepreneurship it was also important to have a sustained Learning and Development Programs which the Government of India provided in its Startup kit made exclusively for new entrants and entrepreneurs. This gave a step-by-step brief on almost all components of the Startup ecosystem.

Components ranging from Accounting & Finance to Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning to Supply Chain have been included in the training modules. This reinforced the confidence in the backdrop of challenges of Startups such as Building and Scaling up looking into the Complex Regulatory Environment etc.

 

In addition, Government Initiatives to Strengthen and assist Startups include Mudra Yojna, SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilization) Fund, E-Biz Portal, Udyami Portal, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) etc.

 

 

 

 

The National Innovation and Startup Policy 2019 For Students & Faculty acts as a guiding framework for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in enabling the institutes to actively engage students, faculties and staff in innovation and entrepreneurship related activities.

 

This framework also aims to facilitate uniformity across HEIs in terms of Intellectual Property ownership management, technology licensing and institutional Startup policy. This will enable the creation of a robust innovation and Start up ecosystem amongst all the HEIs.

 

The policy discusses aspects ranging from Strategies and Governance to Startups Enabling Institutional Infrastructure to Entrepreneurial Impact Assessment for supporting the students and the faculty of HEIs in imparting the practical approach to the Startup ecosystem. Many institutions across the country have produced successful Startups by the students and the faculty.

 

The policy also stresses on the uniform and successful implementation for students and faculty of all the HEIs across the nation as the main objective. It also suggests the roadmap with a choice for the institutions to develop their own comprehensive guidelines and policy on innovation and Startups with greater and finer details. Such autonomy will ensure greater freedom of choices in the Startup Ecosystem, Local-Global bridging of the gaps and boosting institutional confidence.

 

 

 

 

India has emerged as the third-largest ecosystem for Startups after the US and China with about saw a record 44 Startups turning into Unicorns in 2021. As of May 2022, India has more than 69000 Startups providing jobs to over 7.5 lakh people in various sectors. The spread of start-ups in more than 630 districts show that development is not skewed and metro-centric but also is seen as a process in Tier-2 & 3 cities.

 

 

 

 

India is a young nation with zeal of young innovators who can be the reason for initiating ground-breaking Startups and providing solutions to the real time problems. Startup India Programme literally identifies the same and does what a nation wants its youngsters to do to take it ahead. That’s Way Forward!

 

 

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