PM Modi extends tax sops, funding

Prime Minister Modi announced a `10,000-cr fund for new enterprises, equal opportunity in government procurement, a `500-cr credit guarantee scheme and easier exit norms

​New Delhi: With an income tax holiday for three years and exemption from capital gains levies on venture capital investments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the “Start-Up India Action Plan” here on Saturday with an enabling eco-system to promote and nurse entrepreneurship.

A host of incentives unveiled by him for start-ups also included self-certification and a three-year exemption from inspections, an online portal and mobile app, an 80-percent cut in the patent application fee and a single-point hub for hand-holding.

At an event at Vigyan Bhavan conference complex here to launch the "Start-Up India Action Plan", the Prime Minister also announced a Rs 10,000-crore fund for new enterprises, equal opportunity in government procurement, a Rs 500-crore credit guarantee scheme and easier exit norms.

The list of incentives also included 35 new incubators under the public-private partnership mode, 31 new innovation centres at national institutes, seven new research parks, five bio-clusters and a mission with sector-specific incubators, labs, pre-incubation training and seed money.

"We want to ensure that we interfere as little as possible with the start-ups. For that, we have introduced self-certification. No inspection for three years," the Prime Minister told the event to repeated applause from Who's Who of India's start-up and Silicon Valley ecosystems.

Modi also said his government intended to club all related legislation involving start-ups and took a dig at the opposition in this regard. "You all know, where it is stuck. You must use the internet and tell them so that important matters can be cleared in Parliament."

The Prime Minister said he wanted the youth today to transform themselves from job seekers to job givers. "I see that energy in this hall. It reflects the enthusiasm that lies in the hearts of our youth across the country," he said, adding he wanted start-ups to also look beyond IT.

During the day-long event, several interactive sessions were held with stakeholders, ministers and mandarins on topics ranging from innovation and funding to promoting women entrepreneurs and mentoring.

Those who spoke at the final session included SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, GreyOrange's Samay Kohli, LimeRoad's Suchi Mukherjee, InMobi's Naveen Tewari, Ocimum's Anuradha Acharya, Practo's Shashank N.D., WeWork's Adam Neumann, PaperBoat's Neeraj Kakkar and Oyo's Ritesh Agarwal.