Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi has announced the launch of start-up policy, under which start-ups would get collateral-free loans and other benefits. The Delhi Cabinet has approved the the implementation of the Delhi Start-up Policy. The government would empanel agencies to aid start-ups.
During an online briefing, Kejriwal announced that entrepreneurship classes and a ‘Business Blasters’ program would be introduced at college-levels after their grand success in schools. The start-up policy has been formulated after studying similar policies from across the world. “The government would help start-ups get collateral-free loans which would be interest-free for a year. Chartered accountants, lawyers and experts would be empanelled to aid the start-ups for free, and their service charges would be borne by the government,” Kejriwal said.
“We would ease out procurement norms to help start-ups but not bargain with the quality of our products. Students building start-ups while studying in Delhi government colleges would be able to seek one to two years of leave,” Kejriwal added.
Presenting the policy framework in the Cabinet, the industries department mentioned it seeks to enable Delhi to emerge as a global innovation hub and the most preferred destination for start-ups by 2030 by creating an enabling ecosystem for innovation-based economy and fostering entrepreneurial spirit through a robust support mechanism.
According to Kejriwal, the Delhi government would provide both fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to youngsters who want to build their own start-ups. “For instance, the Delhi government would pay up to 50% of the rent of a start-up’s office lease. Similarly, we would pitch in for a portion of the salaries that these start-ups would pay to their employees. We would further reimburse their patent, copyright and trademarking costs and help with internet bills among other provisions. We would also offer collateral-free loans, interest-free loans and incentivise incubation centres and fabrication labs,” the chief minister said.
“The bigger picture, however, is when youngsters want to build their businesses, they give 10% of their time to these business and 90% to paperwork and official formalities. We would overcome this problem by empanelling agencies and professionals to aid these start-ups for free,” Kejriwal said.
The whole policy will be taken care of by a task-force, comprising of one government official and the rest will be academics, experts and industry representatives.
The policy aims to encourage, facilitate and support 15,000 start-ups by 2030. A monitoring committee will be formed to oversee the Delhi Start-up Policy which will be headed by the finance minister of the Delhi government.
With inputs from PTI.
Read also: Punjab to run double shifts in schools with higher strength of students