Start-up India a final break with Licence Raj: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday asserted that there have been some 'extremely significant' changes in the nation as well as its economy since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

Speaking at the opening session of the launch of the 'Start-up India' campaign here at Vigyan Bhawan, Jaitley said, "When Prime Minister Modi was voted to power, if I look back at the changes and the direction we have moved in, some of them are extremely significant."

"We ostensibly broke away from ‘license raj’ in 1991, conceived with idea that government will decide which businesses can run. Our effort over last few years was to restrict role of states in policy domain," he added.

He also said that the world universally recognizes India as probably the fastest growing major economies, but we have our own challenges to work on.

"We are fully conscious of the adverse situation in which we are struggling to keep respectable growth rates in Indian economy," he said.

The Finance Minister further said that it was the Prime Minister's own idea to encourage the start-ups need.

"Both the banking system and government will make the resources available," he added.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi will launch the 'Start-up India' movement.

The launch event is aimed at celebrating the entrepreneurship spirit of country's youth and will be attended by CEOs and founders of top start-ups from across the country and abroad.

The programme is aimed at promoting financing for the start-ups, and give incentives to boost entrepreneurship.