This article on how Indian government can help your startup has been contributed by Himanshu Jain CEO at LegalRaasta, an online portal for GST Registration in India.

The Indian Government has recognized the potential of startups and is actively trying to figure out ways to help startups flourish. Thus, Startup India is a flagship initiative of the Indian Government, intended to construct a strong ecosystem for nurturing and fostering innovation and Start-ups in the nation that will drive sustainable growth of the economy and generate large scale of employment opportunities. The Government through this initiative aims to empower Startups to grow through innovation and design.

Thus, the Indian Government through its Startup India initiative has provided a detailed action plan along with a status report. The initiative was started on 16^th January 2016 and has submitted a status report as on 13^th December 2016.

In order to meet the objectives of the initiative, Government of India had announced this Action Plan that addresses various aspects of the Startup ecosystem.

Through this simple initiative

• From digital/ technology sector to a wide array of sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, social sector, healthcare, education, etc.; and

• From tier 1 cities to tier 2 and tier 3 cities that are already existing include semi-urban and rural areas are some of the ways the Govt. can help your start-up.

• Simplification and Handholding:

1. Compliance Regime based on Self-certification
2. Relaxed Norms of Public Procurement for Start-ups
3. Rolling out of Mobile App and Portal
4. Start-up India Hub
5. Legal Support and Fast-tracking Patent Examination at Lower Costs
6. Faster Exit for Startups Section

• Funding Support and Incentives:

7. Providing Funding Support through a Fund of Funds with a Corpus of INR 10,000 crore
8. Credit Guarantee Fund for Startups
9. Exemption from tax on Capital Gains
10. Exemption from tax to Start-ups for 3 years
11. Exemption from tax on Investments above Fair Market Value Section

• Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation:

12. Organizing Startup Fests for Showcasing Innovation and Providing a Collaboration Platform
13. Building Innovation Centres at National Institutes
14. Harnessing Private Sector Expertise for Incubator Setup
15. Setting up of 7 New Research Parks Modelled on the Research Park Setup at IIT Madras
16. Launch of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) Program
17. Promoting Startups in the Biotechnology Sector
18. Launching of Innovation Focused Programs for Students
19. Annual Incubator Grand Challenge