Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Apr 6: Amidst applause with thumping of desks, Union Minister of State Independent Charge, Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today informed the Lok Sabha that over 67,000 StartUps have been registered in last six years by the Department of Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT) following Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s call “StartUp India, StandUp India” during his Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015.
The Ministry of Science & Technology itself has funded over 10,000 StartUps since 2014 in the last 8 years of the Modi Government, which is ten times higher than just about 1,600 StartUps funded during earlier 8 years of the UPA Government from 2006 to 2014, he added.
The Minister said that the Government has launched a number of programs to aid Start-ups in technology sectors. The programmes initiated by the Department of Science & Technology aim to nurture innovation and technology led entrepreneurship, which also creates new avenues for wealth creation and job generation.
In a statement laid on the table of the Lok Sabha in reply to a question on Schemes to aid Start-Ups in Technology Sector, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in line with the Prime Minister Modi’s vision on Innovation and Start-up India, National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) programme has been initiated in 2016-17, which aims to convert knowledge-based and technology-driven innovative ideas into successful start-ups.
The Minister informed that CSIR has set up 7 Common Research and Technology Development Hubs (CRTDHs) during the last five years, for promoting industrial R&D innovation, dedicated for MSMEs, start-ups and individual innovators.
NIDHI program has various components like providing fellowships to the students opting for entrepreneurship through Entrepreneurs-In-Residence (EIR) Program, PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators and Startups) programme by providing financial support for converting ideas into prototypes, availability of early stage Seed support funding to startups, providing mentoring and investment readiness support through Accelerators to startups.
Till date 50+ NIDHI TBIs and 7 NIDHI CoEs have been set up in the country.
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has also initiated the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). As part of the Mission implementation, 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) have been established in reputed institutes across the country in advanced technologies. One of the major activities of the Mission is boosting innovation, entrepreneurship & Start-Up in emerging areas of technologies.
Technology Development Board (TDB) a statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) provides financial assistance in the form of loan or equity and/or in exceptional cases, grant to industrial concerns and other agencies attempting commercial application of indigenous technology or adapting imported technology for wider domestic applications. Companies/ start-ups are allowed to apply throughout the year for part financing their project for commercialization.
The DPIIT Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization. The scheme enables startups to graduate to a level where they are able to raise investments from angel investors or venture capitalists or seek loans from commercial banks or financial institutions.
Department of Biotechnology, through Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), supports and nurtures startups in the Biotechnology sector. The major schemes are BioNEST scheme (Bio incubators Nurturing Entrepreneurship for Scaling Technologies) and Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) schemes.
Through this scheme, BIRAC has supported 60 Incubation centres across 18 states in the country, supporting 1500+ incubatees.
Atal Innovation Mission has set up Atal Incubation Centres (AIC) to incubate startups in various sectors, he said. It has also launched Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) program to directly aid start-ups with technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance.
The startups receive upto Rs 1.50 Crore as grant for development of innovative prototypes. They also receive enormous support from iDEX’s partner Incubators at IITs, IIMs and other private incubators spread all over the country.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has launched Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) Scheme to promote tech entrepreneurship through financial and technical support to incubators engaged in supporting ICT startups using emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, Block-chain etc. Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) of MeitY has solution oriented architecture and aims to handhold 300 Tech Start-ups in Tier-2/3 cities over a period of three years with the total budget outlay of Rs. 95.03 crore.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that Government has recognized technology as the key enabler for efficient delivery of services to its beneficiaries. Departments of Government periodically evaluate the barriers, challenges and missing links in its technology-led service programs and attempts to address identified challenges by evolving new programs.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
