Lok Sabha Question No. 2409 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-15
Subject: Digital India Innovation
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2409

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.03.2023

## DIGITAL INDIA INNOVATION

## 2409 SHRI PARBATBHAI SAVABHAI PATEL:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to launch a Digital India Innovation Fund to support deep tech startups;
- (b) if so, the details of its objectives;
- (c) whether funding is one of the biggest challenges for deep tech startups; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the measures likely to be taken by the Government to meet the said challenge?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

- (a) and (b): Government has announced thematic funds in the Budget of 2022-23 to promote sunrise  sectors  including  deep-tech.  Moreover,  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information Technology (MeitY) has initiated a number of schemes/ programmes to support technology startups including deep tech startups.
- (c) and (d):  As per NASSCOM strategic report 2023, total number of technology startups is 27,000 out of which 3200+ are deep tech startups (~12%). As the capital-intensive growth is required  in  deep  tech  startups,  several  challenges  are  also  being  faced  including  tax incentive(s),  investor  connect,  consumer  and  supplier  connect,  global  outreach  with  soft landing and long-term sustainability. MeitY has undertaken a slew of proactive, preemptive and graded measures to spur the technology led startup-innovation ecosystem in the country and giving an impetus to the new and emerging technologies. This proactive approach builds from established best practices designed to strengthen the overall tech startup development infrastructure by overcoming persistent bottlenecks to work grounds up seamlessly. Some of the major initiatives have been elucidated here:
-  TIDE 2.0 Scheme: Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0)  Scheme was initiated in the  year 2019 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, Robotics etc. The Scheme is being implemented through 51 incubators through a three tiered structure with an overarching objective  to  promote  incubation  activities  at  institutes  of  higher  learning  and  premier R&D  organisations. The scheme  is expected to provide incubation support to approximately 2000 tech start-ups with an overall outlay of Rs. 264 Crore over a period of five years.
-  Domain specific Centres of Excellence: MeitY has envisaged and operationalised 26 Centres  of  Excellence  (CoEs)  in  diverse  areas  of  national  interest  for  driving  selfsufficiency  and  creating  capabilities  to  capture  new  and  emerging  technology  areas. These domain specific CoEs are act as enablers and aid in making India an innovation hub in emerging through democratisation of innovation and realisation of prototypes.
-  SAMRIDH Scheme: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched  the  'Start-up  Accelerator  Programme  of  MeitY  for  Product  Innovation, Development and Growth (SAMRIDH)' in August 2021 with an aim to support existing and upcoming Accelerators to further select and accelerate potential software product based start-ups to scale. The total cost of the scheme is Rs. 99 Crore for a duration of 3 years. A total of 300 startups are to be supported under the SAMRIDH Scheme.
-  Next  Generation  Incubation  Scheme  (NGIS): NGIS  has  been  approved  to  support software product ecosystem and to address a significant portion of National Policy on Software  Product  (NPSP)  2019.  The  Scheme  is  proposed  to  be  launched  from  12 locations  i.e.  Agartala,  Bhilai,  Bhopal,  Bhubaneswar,  Dehradun,  Guwahati,  Jaipur, Lucknow  &Prayagraj,  Mohali/  Chandigarh,  Patna  &Vijaywada.  The  Scheme  has solution orientedarchitecture and aims to handhold 300 Tech Start-ups in Tier-2/3 cities over a period of 3 years with the total budget outlay of Rs. 95.03 Crores.
-  Support for International Patent Protection in E&IT (SIP-EIT) Scheme: Ministry of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  had  initiated  a  scheme  titled 'Support  for International  Patent  Protection  in  E&IT  (SIP-EIT)  that  encourages international patent filing by Indian MSMEs and start-ups so as to encourage innovation and recognize the value and capabilities of global IP.  Reimbursement provided under the  scheme  is  upto  a  maximum  of  Rs.15  lakhs  per  invention  or  50%  of  the  total expenses incurred in filing and processing of patent application upto grant whichever is lesser.
-  GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups): Ministry of Electronics and Information  Technology  (MeitY)  has  launched  an  umbrella  program  Digital  IndiaGENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups) to discover, support, grow and make successful startups  in  Tier-II  and  Tier-III  cities  with  emphasis  on  collaborative engagement  among  startups,  government  and  corporates  for  promoting  digitization based on the principals of inclusivity, accessibility, affordability, leading to growth in employment and economic outputs.

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