NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, January 14, 2016

The government is likely to set up an inter-ministerial board on the lines of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to vet proposals to select start-ups who will be eligible for incentives under the Start-up India Action Plan to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

“The board will be at the joint secretary level and will meet from time to time to vet the proposals,” a government official involved in the process of finalizing the Start-up India action plan said, speaking under condition of anonymity. The official said various approvals like those on company registration will be fast-tracked for start-ups. “They will be exempted from all inspections including labour inspections,” a government official said speaking under condition of anonymity.

“We are making legal charges of filing intellectual property rights (IPR) free. Start-ups have to only give statutory charges. We will have a panel of advocates to help them. We will bear their charges,” the official added.

Investment firm SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son, taxi-hailing service Uber’s founder Travis Kalanick and collaborative workspace provider WeWork’s founder Adam Neumann will attend the government’s Start-up India event.

The event will be attended by around 40 innovators, venture capitalists and angel investors from Silicon Valley along with 1,500 founders of start-ups from across the country. In August, while delivering the Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi floated the slogan “Start-up India, Stand up India” to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among young people.