Start-up India set to ignite a million dreams, recast business ecosystem

Start-up India, rebooting the ecosystem of ideas and innovations, igniting a million dreams. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch his blueprint for entrepreneurial revolution in the Indian capital on January 16 in the presence of a galaxy of top start-up enterprises in the country.

The ‘Start up India Stand up India’ initiative was unveiled by Mr Modi on August 15, 2015. The focus is on unleashing entrepreneurial energies of Asia’s second largest economy, along with financial inclusion. The Standup India initiative is restricted only to scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and women entrepreneurs.

On January 16, Mr Modi will unveil details of the programme, which will provide a host of initiatives for start-ups by easing procedures and providing a conducive business environment for them to blossom and find their traction.

The Stand-up India initiative is expected to yield results through financial inclusion of the underprivileged who are deprived of financial assistance due to their economic status. By giving financial access to women and the scheduled castes and tribes, India’s entrepreneurship in the social sector will get a morale booster. With the government aiming to create more jobs, this initiative is a welcome step in that direction. The country is expected to witness a surge in number of entrepreneurs over the next few years and Standup India initiative will act as a springboard for this.

The loans under the Sand-up India scheme would be given for greenfield projects in the non-farm sector. This scheme will be a refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs 10,000 crore. “The scheme is intended to facilitate at least two such projects per branch on an average one for each category of entrepreneur. It is expected to benefit at least 250,000 borrowers,” an official statement said.

The National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) will set up a credit guarantee mechanism to support the scheme. The loans under the Stand Up India scheme will range between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

The nod for the conversion of the Mudra Ltd (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency), an NBFC, into Mudra Bank has also been given by the cabinet. The Mudra SIDBI Bank will be a wholly owned subsidiary of SIDBI. A separate Credit Guarantee Fund corpus of Rs 3,000 crore will also be set up to support loans disbursed under the Mudra Yojana.

Around 17.3 million people have so far benefited under the Mudra Yojana, Mr Jaitley said. Despite the Mudra Yojana aiming to finance small businesses, its main focus is on refinancing micro lenders who focus on non-corporate small business. These include businesses such as shopkeeper and small manufacturers. The loan size ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh.

Encouraging startups to purse their goals, tech giant Google has announced that it is hosting a live contest called ‘Start up India Stand up India’ for start-ups, which are still in their early stage. It has shortlisted five startups and people can vote for their startup before the ‘Startup India Standup India’ event is launched on January 16 by Mr Modi. The five startups shortlisted are: Reap Benefit, Cardiac Design Labs, Guru-G, SlamdunQ and Sbalabs Pvt. Ltd. – Jackboy Sense & Kalink. The winner of the contest would receive $100,000 worth of Cloud Credit from Google.

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