Start-up India programme

The ‘Start-up India Stand Up India’, scheme which Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in the Independence Day address will be the government’s New Year gift to the young people who want to set up new businesses or innovative projects, Modi said in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme on December 27. The scheme to be rolled out on on January 16 comes close on the heels of Government decision to set up the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and a mechanism to be known as SETU (Self Employment and Talent Utilisation) in NITI Aayog.

The PM said that all major higher educational institutions will participate in the programme. SETU is a techno-financial, incubation and facilitation programme to support all aspects of start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. With a view to further these initiatives. It would support, as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated in Budget speech, all aspects of start up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.

An amount of Rs 1000 crore is being set up initially in NITI Aayog for SETU. “Experimenting in cutting edge technologies, creating value out of ideas and initiatives and converting them into scalable enterprises and businesses is at the core of our strategy for engaging our youth and for inclusive and sustainable growth of the country,” he said. A more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities at designated centres of excellence, funding for seed capital and growth etc would be addressed.

Union Minister for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy also says the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurs envisaged fostering entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation by providing support in terms of fiscal incentives, creation of grass root technology innovation hubs, legal support and market linkages. In August, the government launched India Aspiration Fund (IAF) under the Small Industries Development Bank of India with a capital of Rs 2,000 crore to give a boost to start-up ecosystem in the country.

The objective of the IAF is to catalyse tens of thousands of crores of equity investment into start-ups and MSMEs creating employment of lakhs of persons, mostly educated youth, over the next four to five years. As part of the ‘Start-Up India’ initiative, 1.25 lakh bank branches would provide funding support to at least one Dalit or Adivasi entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur.