’19 state governments implemented start-up policies to promote entrepreneurs’

As many as 19 state governments have implemented start-up policies with a view to promoting budding entrepreneurs in the country, the commerce and industry ministry on Friday said.
On January 2016, prime minister Narendra Modi unveiled a slew of incentives to boost start-up businesses, offering them a tax holiday, inspector raj-free regime and capital gains tax exemption as part of the start-up action plan.
“At the time of launch of this initiative, only four states had started start-up policy, whereas 19 states have implemented start-up policies now,” the ministry said in a statement.
To further give an impetus to the momentum, state/union territory start-up ranking framework has been launched in February.
The key objective of the ranking is to encourage states to take proactive steps towards strengthening the start-up ecosystems within their jurisdictions.
To promote innovation among start-ups, the ministry provides 80 per cent rebate in patent filing fees and 50 per cent on trademark filing fees.
“423 patent facilitators and 596 trademark facilitators have been nominated for this purpose. The initiative has benefited 671 patent applicants, 941 trademark applicants along with 144 expedited examinations,” it said.
Further, the ministry said that international bilateral cooperation with countries having strong start-up ecosystems – Israel, Singapore, Portugal and Sweden – have been entered into by Start-up India Hub to facilitate market access and promote investments.