The fact that India is home to 100 unicorn start-ups is not surprising but it is only the tip of exponential growth that the Indian startup ecosystem will witness in the coming years.
While the spirit of the Indian entrepreneur is the main driver to the robustness, we are seeing in the Indian startup ecosystem, government of India too under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving wings to the startups to fly.
Recently, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minster of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash stated that India registered a whopping rise in the number of startups that rose from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 as on 30th June 2022.
Startup India data reveals that India has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world; expected to witness YoY growth of a consistent annual growth of 12-15 per cent.
The pace of growth in the startup ecosystem has increased to 15 per cent year-on-year in 2018, while the growth of the number of incubators and accelerators has grown to 11 per cent.
Startups in the country have been able to create an estimated 40,000 new jobs over the year, taking the total jobs in the start-up ecosystem to 1.6-1.7 lakh according to Startup India data.
The startup ecosystem is growing rapidly with the government of India facilitating the spurt through Startup Innovation Challenges, National Startup Awards, Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems and the Prarambh Summit.
Som Prakash in his written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha further elucidated that the Startup India initiative was launched in 2016 with the objective of building a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the country, adding that all initiatives are implemented across States, cities, towns and rural areas.
The reply further stated that Startup India initiative, is implementing Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme and Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) to provide financial assistance to startups through Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and incubators respectively. Under SISFS, as on 30th June 2022, a total of 703 startups have been provided with funds while 428 startups have been approved funding.
The government of India has established FFS with corpus of Rs. 10,000 crores, to meet the funding needs of startups. DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) is the monitoring agency and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS. The total corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore is envisaged to be provided over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles based on progress of the scheme and availability of funds.
The steps of the government of India have not only made capital available for startups at early stage, seed stage and growth stage but also played a vital role in facilitating raising of local capital, reducing dependence on foreign capital and encouraging home grown and new venture capital funds.
Startup India initiative helps connect the Indian startup ecosystem to global startup ecosystems through various engagement models. This has been done though international government to government partnerships, participation in international forums and hosting of global events. Startup India has launched bridges with over 15 countries (Brazil, Sweden, Russia, Portugal, UK, Finland, Netherlands, Singapore, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Croatia, Qatar and UAE) that provides a soft-landing platform for startups from the partner nations and aid in promoting cross collaboration, added the statement.
To enable ease of procurement, Central Ministries/Departments are directed to relax conditions of prior turnover and prior experience in public procurement for all Startups subject to meeting quality and technical specifications, said the minister in his written reply.
Further, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) Startup Runway; a dedicated corner for startups to sell products & services directly to the Government, he added.
As per the written reply of MoS Som Prakash, “Startups are eligible for fast tracked patent application examination and disposal. The Government launched Start-ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) which facilitates the startups to file applications for patents, designs and trademarks through registered facilitators in appropriate IP offices by paying only the statutory fees. Facilitators under this Scheme are responsible for providing general advisory on different IPRs, and information on protecting and promoting IPRs in other countries. The Government bears the entire fees of the facilitators for any number of patents, trademark or designs, and startups only bear the cost of the statutory fees payable.”
Startups are provided with an 80 per cent rebate in filing of patents and 50 per cent rebate in filling of trademark vis-a-vis other companies informed the Minister of State in the Rajya Sabha written reply.
“Easy availability of capital is essential for entrepreneurs at the early stages of growth of an enterprise. The capital required at this stage often presents a make-or-break situation for startups with good business ideas. The Scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization. Rs. 945 crores have been sanctioned under the SISFS Scheme for period of 4 years starting from 2021-22, said the government statement in its statement in the Rajya Sabha.
If you are an Indian entrepreneur or innovator planning to take a plunge in the startup space, just remember that the government is around to facilitate your startup dream to reality but it can only act as a facilitator, the realisation of the dream is left up to your tenacity and hard work.
