Lok Sabha Question No. 723 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: Incubators for Startups
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Vishnu Dayal Ram

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 723. TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 07 TH  FEBRUARY, 2024.

## INCUBATORS FOR STARTUPS

## 723.   SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

be pleased to state:

- (a) the details about the Government's effort to set up incubators for startups and industry  partnerships  to  promote  entrepreneurship  under  the  Start-up  India scheme since its inception;
- (b) the details about the targets of the said programmes and major achievements;
- (c) the number of such incubators run by the Government, State/UT-wise including Jharkhand; and
- (d) the details of the innovative business ideas that received funding through the said programmes?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ( श्री सोम प्रकाश ) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

- (a) & (b): Startup India is an initiative and not a scheme. The Government with an intent to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation, startups and encouraging  investments  in  the  startup  ecosystem  of  the  country launched  the  Startup  India  initiative  on  16th  January  2016  with  the unveiling of Startup India Action Plan.

The Startup India Action Plan comprises of 19 action items spanning across areas such as 'Simplification and handholding', 'Funding support and incentives' and 'Industry-academia partnership and incubation'. For promoting development and growth of incubation landscape and industry partnerships  for  startups,  various programs  are  implemented  by  the Government under the Startup India initiative. Details of such programs implemented by the Government are placed as Annexure-I .

Sustained  efforts  by  the  Government  have  led  to  an  increase  in  the number  of  Department  for  Promotion  of  Industry  and  Internal  Trade (DPIIT)  recognised  startups  to  1,17,254  as  on  31st  December  2023. These recognised startups are reported to have created over 12.42 lakh direct jobs.

| (c) & (d):   | Under the Startup India initiative, the Government is implementing the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) which has been established to provide financial assistance to seed stage startups through eligible incubators. SISFS is approved for the period of 4 years starting from 2021-22 with a corpus of Rs. 945 crores. The Experts Advisory Committee (EAC), under SISFS, evaluates and selects incubators for allocation of funds under the Scheme. The approved incubators select startups in accordance with the guidelines of the Scheme.   |
|--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|              | 198 incubators have been selected by the EAC under SISFS as on 31 st December 2023. The State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of the incubators approved under SISFS, including for the State of Jharkhand, are placed as Annexure-II .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|              | The approved incubators under SISFS have shortlisted 1,740 startups for a total approved sum of Rs. 306.43 crore as on 31 st December 2023.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |

*********

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 723 FOR ANSWER ON 07.02.2024.

The details of various programs undertaken by the Government for development and growth  of  incubation  landscape  and  industry  partnerships  for  startups  under  the Startup India initiative across the country are as under:

1. Startup India Action Plan: An Action Plan for Startup India was unveiled on 16th January  2016.  The  Action  Plan  comprises  of  19  action  items  spanning  across areas such as 'Simplification and handholding', 'Funding support and incentives' and  'Industry-academia  partnership  and  incubation'.  The  Action  Plan  laid  the foundation of Government support, schemes and incentives envisaged to create a vibrant startup ecosystem in the country.
2. Startup  India:  The  Way  Ahead: Startup  India:  The  Way  Ahead  at  5  years celebration of Startup India was unveiled on 16th January 2021 which includes actionable plans for promotion of ease of doing business for startups, greater role of technology in executing various reforms, building capacities of stakeholders and enabling a digital Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
3. Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS): Easy availability of capital is essential for  entrepreneurs  at  the  early  stages  of  growth  of  an  enterprise.  The  capital required at this stage often presents a make-or-break situation for startups with good business ideas. The Scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for  proof  of  concept,  prototype  development,  product  trials,  market  entry  and commercialization. Rs. 945 crore has been sanctioned under the SISFS Scheme for period of 4 years starting from 2021-22.
4. Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme: The Government has established FFS with corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore, to meet the funding needs of startups. DPIIT is the monitoring agency and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS. The total corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore is envisaged to  be  provided  over  the  14th  and  15th  Finance  Commission  cycles  based  on progress  of  the  scheme  and  availability  of  funds.  It  has  not  only  made  capital available for startups at early stage, seed stage and growth stage but also played a  catalytic  role  in  terms  of  facilitating  raising  of  domestic  capital,  reducing dependence on foreign capital and encouraging home grown and new venture capital funds.
5. Credit Guarantee  Scheme  for  Startups (CGSS): The Government  has established  the  Credit  Guarantee  Scheme  for  Startups  for  providing  credit guarantees  to  loans  extended  to  DPIIT  recognized  startups  by  Scheduled Commercial Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Venture Debt Funds  (VDFs)  under  SEBI  registered  Alternative  Investment  Funds.  CGSS  is

aimed at providing credit guarantee up to a specified limit against loans extended by Member Institutions (MIs) to finance eligible borrowers viz. DPIIT recognised startups.

6. Regulatory Reforms: Over 55 regulatory reforms have been undertaken by the Government since 2016 to enhance ease of doing business, ease of raising capital and reduce compliance burden for the startup ecosystem.
7. Ease  of  Procurement: To  enable  ease  of  procurement,  Central  Ministries/ Departments are directed to relax conditions of prior turnover and prior experience in public procurement for all DPIIT recognised startups subject to meeting quality and  technical  specifications.  Further,  Government  e-Marketplace  (GeM)  also facilitates and promotes procurement of products and services by the Government from startups.
8. Support  for  Intellectual  Property  Protection: Startups  are  eligible  for  fasttracked patent application examination and disposal. The Government launched Start-ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) which facilitates the startups to file applications for patents, designs and trademarks through registered facilitators in appropriate  IP  offices  by  paying  only  the  statutory  fees.  Facilitators  under  this Scheme  are  responsible  for  providing  general  advisory  on  different  IPRs,  and information on protecting and promoting IPRs in other countries. The Government bears the entire fees of the facilitators for any number of patents, trademark or designs, and startups only bear the cost of the statutory fees payable. Startups are provided  with  an  80%  rebate  in  filing  of  patents  and  50%  rebate  in  filling  of trademark vis-a-vis other companies.
9. Startup India Hub: The Government launched a Startup India Online Hub on 19th June  2017  which  is  one  of  its  kind  online  platform  for  all  stakeholders  of  the entrepreneurial  ecosystem  in  India  to  discover,  connect  and  engage  with  each other.  The  Online  Hub  hosts  Startups,  Investors,  Funds,  Mentors,  Academic Institutions, Incubators, Accelerators, Corporates, Government Bodies and more.
10. International Market Access to Indian Startups: One of the key objectives under the Startup India initiative is to help connect Indian startup ecosystem to global startup  ecosystems  through  various  engagement  models.  This  has  been  done though  international  Government  to  Government  partnerships,  participation  in international  forums  and  hosting  of  global  events.  Startup  India  has  launched bridges with about 20 countries that provides a soft-landing platform for startups from the partner nations and aid in promoting cross collaboration.
11. Startup India Showcase: Startup India Showcase is an online discovery platform for the most promising startups of the country chosen through various programs for startups exhibited in a form of virtual profiles. The startups showcased on the platform have distinctly emerged as the best in their fields. These innovations span across  various  cutting-edge  sectors  such  as  Fintech,  EnterpriseTech,  Social Impact,  HealthTech,  EdTech, among others. These startups are solving critical

problems  and  have  shown  exceptional  innovation  in  their  respective  sectors. Ecosystem  stakeholders  have  nurtured  and  supported  these  startups,  thereby validating their presence on this platform.

12. National Startup Advisory Council: The Government in January 2020 notified constitution of the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in  the  country  to  drive  sustainable  economic  growth  and  generate  large  scale employment  opportunities.  Besides  the  ex-officio  members,  the  council  has  a number  of  non-official  members,  representing  various  stakeholders  from  the startup ecosystem.
13. National  Startup  Awards  (NSA): National  Startup  Awards  is  an  initiative  to recognize  and  reward  outstanding  startups  and  ecosystem  enablers  that  are building  innovative  products  or  solutions  and  scalable  enterprises,  with  high potential of employment generation or wealth creation, demonstrating measurable social impact. Handholding support is provided to all the finalists across various tracks viz. Investor  Connect,  Mentorship,  Corporate  Connect,  Government Connect, International Market Access, Regulatory Support, Startup Champions on Doordarshan and Startup India Showcase, etc.
14. States' Startup Ranking Framework (SRF): States' Startup Ranking Framework is a unique initiative to harness strength of competitive federalism and create a flourishing startup ecosystem in the country. The major objectives of the ranking exercise  are  facilitating  states  to  identify,  learn  and  replace  good  practices, highlighting the policy intervention by states for promoting startup ecosystem and fostering competitiveness among states.
15. Startup Champions on Doordarshan: Startup Champions program on Doordarshan is a one-hour weekly program covering stories of award  winning/ nationally recognised startups. It is telecasted in both Hindi and English across Doordarshan network channels.
16. Startup  India  Innovation  Week: The  Government  organises  Startup  India Innovation  week  around  the  National  Startup  Day  i.e.,  16th  January,  with  the primary  goal  was  to  bring  together  the  country's  key  startups,  entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, and other national/international  stakeholders  to  celebrate  entrepreneurship  and  promote innovation.
17. The Startup India Investor Connect Portal has been co-developed under the Startup India Initiative with SIDBI, serving as an intermediary platform that links startups  and  investors  in  order  to  help  entrepreneurs  from  various  industries, functions, stages, regions, and backgrounds in mobilizing capital. The portal has been  built  with  the  aim  to  enable  in  particular;  early-stage  startups  located anywhere in the country to showcase themselves to leading investors/ venture capital funds.
18. National  Mentorship  Portal  (MAARG) :  In  order  to  facilitate  accessibility  to mentorship  for  startups  in  every  part  of  the  country,  the  Mentorship,  Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth (MAARG) program has been developed and launched under the Startup India Initi ative.

********

## ANNEXURE-II

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (c)  and  (d)  OF  THE  LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 723 FOR ANSWER ON 07.02.2024.

The  State/Union  Territory  (UT)-wise  details  of  the  incubators  approved  under SISFS, including for the State of Jharkhand, are as under:

| S. No.   | State/UT         |   Number of Incubators |
|----------|------------------|------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh   |                      6 |
| 2        | Assam            |                      2 |
| 3        | Bihar            |                      4 |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh     |                      2 |
| 5        | Delhi            |                     11 |
| 6        | Goa              |                      4 |
| 7        | Gujarat          |                     20 |
| 8        | Haryana          |                      5 |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh |                      3 |
| 10       | Jammu & Kashmir  |                      1 |
| 11       | Jharkhand        |                      1 |
| 12       | Karnataka        |                     19 |
| 13       | Kerala           |                      5 |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh   |                      6 |
| 15       | Maharashtra      |                     28 |
| 16       | Mizoram          |                      2 |
| 17       | Nagaland         |                      2 |
| 18       | Odisha           |                     10 |
| 19       | Puducherry       |                      2 |
| 20       | Punjab           |                      9 |
| 21       | Rajasthan        |                     11 |
| 22       | Sikkim           |                      1 |
| 23       | Tamil Nadu       |                     20 |
| 24       | Telangana        |                     11 |
| 25       | Uttar Pradesh    |                     10 |
| 26       | Uttarakhand      |                      2 |
| 27       | West Bengal      |                      1 |
|          | Total            |                    198 |

********