Here are the 10 most interesting announcements of the Startup India Plan, read the article to find what the Startup India Plan has to offer you.

The Startup India Standup India plan was announced on the 69th Independence Day of India by honourable Prime Minister Mr Narender Modi. Later, keeping the promise, the government released the Startup India Action Plan on 16th of January. This article throws light on the important constituents of the Startup India Action Plan for you.

1) Startups exempted from taxes for 3 Years.

It is understandable that the entrepreneurs of infant startups struggle to evaluate feasibility and create a viable product/service. During this period of intense work and pressure, the burden of fighting the rising competition and challenges of locating resources add to the fire. Thus, the Startup India Action Plan has come up with a policy that spares startups from income tax for three years if the dividends of the Startups are not distributed.

2) Providing discount on Patent Fee and Fast-Track Patent Examination.

The Startup India Action Plan 2016 lays a lot of stress on boosting intellectual property registration. The government understands that it is essential for startups to protect their intellectual property rights in order to survive against bigger competitors and enjoy the perks of risen valuation of the startup. For this purpose the Startup India Action Plan has arranged for a system of fast track Patent Application Processing and creating a panel of facilitators to assist in filing of IP applications. Under this scheme, the cost will be covered by the Central Government and the Startups will be left only with the burden of the statutory fees payable.

3) Startups getting relaxed Norms of Public Procurement.

Many a times, startups do not perform well enough as compared to the already existing, experienced Entrepreneurs and Enterprises on public procurement or Government tenders. Also due to prior turnover stipulations in tenders, start ups are not allowed to participate in tenders. Now in order to boost public procurement from Startups, the Startup India Action Plan exempts Startups from having the requirement of Prior experience/turnover.

4) Faster Exit for Startups.

It cannot be doubted that Startups bring with them a large amount of risk. Also a large number of Startups fail. In order to secure the risk of business failure, Startups should have a provision of quickly reallocating the capital and resources to more productive areas. This will also boost the morale of potential entrepreneurs. In order to make this happen the Startup India Action Plan has introduced the provision of voluntary closure of business. Startups meeting certain decided criterion will be allowed to wind up within a period of 90 days from making application for winding up.

5) Guaranteeing credit for Startups.

Usually the sources of capital generation are hesitant over lending to Startups because of the numbers that indicate high failure rate. The Startup India Action Plan 2016 thus launched a Credit Guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (CGTMSE) or SIDBI with an initial corpus of Rs.500 crores per year. This is done to help credit debt fund for the Startups.

6) The Startup Mobile App and Portal.

Startups face problems in the initial stages in deciding upon the requirements of setting up the business like the registrations and license that are to be acquired from various governmental authorities. Also a platform is required for all the startups to connect with each other and their already existing counterparts. To serve this purpose, the Startup India Action Plan 2016 has launched a mobile app. This application is designed to help the users track the status of various applications, applying for various schemes under Startup India 2016 and collaborating with other startups. In order to boast the startup ecosystem, the Government has also introduced a Startup Fests at National and International levels to connect with investors, mentors, incubators and Startups.

7) Launch of Atal Innovation Mission.

The Startup India Action Plan, along with having several other plans for the budding entrepreneurs, has announced the launch of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) program. This mission is brought into work for functions like Entrepreneurship promotion through self-employment and fuller utilisation of available talent, and to provide a platform for the innovative ideas to generate and flourish.

8) Setting up of Innovation Centres at National Institutes.

Under the Startup India Action Plan 31 innovation and entrepreneurship centres at National institutes are to be set up along with 13 Startup centres and 18 Technology Business Incubators. All this is done to provide a strong catalyst for innovation, research and development to the Startup ecosystem.

In view of promoting innovation through incubation and joint R&D efforts between academia and industry, 7 new Research Parks in national level institutes like IITS are to be set up.

9) Promoting Startups in Biotechnology.

Keeping in mind the potential that the world of bio-tech holds, the Department of Biotechnology will setup 5 new Bio-clusters, 50 new Bio-Incubators, 150 technology transfer offices and 20 Bio-Connect offices across India. Also a separate bio-tech Equity Fund is going to be setup in coordination with National and Global Equity Funds to provide financial assistance to the budding bio-tech Startups.

10) Programs for Students

With interest in promoting research and innovation among the students, the Government has proposed several student based programs and schemes. Programs like the Innovation core program will target school kids with an outreach to 10 lakh innovations from 5 lakh schools.

Also a grant challenge program is setup to support and award Rs.10 lakhs to 20 student innovations.

Also it is planned to earmark Rs.250 crore per year for housing high quality research amongst IIT students.

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