Pratap Rudy talks of government's initiatives for start-ups
During the question hour of the parliament, Union Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy talked about government's inititatives to support start-ups. He said the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurs envisaged fostering entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation. Rudy mentioned mechanisms like 'SETU' under NITI Aayog, India Aspiration Fund under SIDBI, 'Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs' under Dept. of Electronics and Information Technology, etc.
About Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs
Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE), which has been implemented by Department of Electronics and Information Technology was launched in 2008. TIDE focuses on diverse areas like electronics, ICT and management. It aims to assist institutions of higher learning to strengthen their Technology Incubation Centers and enable young entrepreneurs to initiate technology startup companies to commercially exploit technologies developed by them.
TIDE supports 27 centers at academic institutions
As per the TIDE scheme provision, 27 centres are being supported at academic institutions across India. Each TIDE center would be given financial support as grant-in-aid of up to Rs.155 lakhs. The sheme thus far is valid till 2017 March.
Government sets up SETU
Government had announced the setting up of a Self- Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) mechanism during the presentation of 2015 general budget. 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. An amount of Rs.1000 crore was initially allocated in NITI Aayog for SETU scheme.
PM announces start-up India initiative
PM Modi on independence day, announced a new campaign 'Start-up India; Stand up India' . The initiative will promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation. As per the 'Start-Up India' initiative, each of the 1.25 lakh bank branches would provide funding support to at least one Dalit or Adivasi entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur.
India Aspiration Fund (IAF) to boost start-up ecosystem
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched the India Aspiration Fund (IAF) to be set up as a fund of funds under the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). This would help to boost the startup ecosystem in the country. The IAF intends to catalyze crores of equity investment into start-ups and MSMEs (micro and small enterprises), creating employment for lakhs of people.
LIC is a partner of IAF
Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) will be a partner and co-investor in the India Aspiration Fund. Further, an initial corpus of Rs.2,000 crore was allocated to IAF.
