Our Correspondent / New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the government is taking several steps to promote young entrepreneurs in the country. He was interacting with young start-up entrepreneurs and innovators from across the country through video conferencing today. Mr. Modi said start-ups are no longer confined to big cities even smaller towns and villages too are emerging as vibrant start-up centres.
The Prime Minister also said that along with Make in India, Design in India too is important for start-ups. He said adequate capital, courage and connecting with people are required for excelling in the start-up sector.
Mr Modi added that there was a time when start-ups meant only digital and technology innovation but now things are changing and start-ups can be seen in various other fields, including agriculture.
The Prime Minister said that an Agriculture Grand Challenge has been launched and more youngsters are invited to ideate on how to transform the agriculture sector.
The government has launched the Startup India Action Plan to promote budding entrepreneurs in the country. Mr. Modi said the plan is aimed at giving incentives such as tax holiday, capital gains tax exemption and inspector raj-free regime.
Mr. Modi said today’s big companies were start-ups at some point and urged people to keep innovating. He also said that the youth in India is now creating jobs and the government is committed to harnessing the demographic dividend.
Commenting on the issue of fund availability for start-ups, Mr Modi said the government has created a 10,000-crore rupee Fund for the purpose. He government has eased public procurement norms so that start-ups can sell their products to the government. The Prime Minister said that India has distinguished itself in the global start-up ecosystem.
Earlier, Mr. Modi had interacted with beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana through NaMo App.
During the interaction, a start-up innovator from Raipur, Chhattisgarh told the Prime Minister that the Atal Innovation Mission has supported them tremendously and several institutions are working with them as well.
A start-up entrepreneur from Bengaluru told Mr Modi that, their patent requests were pending for years and due to Start-up India, they got a lot of valuable assistance from the Government.