The Gujarat government recently announced its first IT and Electronics Start-up Policy, focusing on subsidies and state assistance for incubators and start-ups over the next five years.
The policy unveiled by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will be applicable to IT and electronics-related startups. Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have already put in place IT policies and state assistance to promote startups.
With the IT policy in place, the state government aims to establish 50 incubators to help as many as 2,000 startups flourish over the next five years.
"Our aim is to attract an investment of Rs. 7,000 crore through this policy for startups. The Gujarat government will allot around 10 lakh sq feet of land for the development of 50 incubators, which will provide guidance to budding innovators in setting up their startup units," PAtel was quoted as saying in a report by the Economic Times.
The policy spells out a slew of subsidies and assistance, touching upon capital investment, software purchase, and waiver of stamp and registration fees, among others, for startups and incubators.
Assistance for incubators
The state government has promised to grant 50 percent capital investment assistance with a cap of Rs. 50 lakh to set up incubators. As per the policy, incubators will be entitled to Rs. 5 lakh each year as mentoring assistance and Rs. 1 crore to procure software.
Under the new policy, the startups and incubators will also get 100 percent reimbursement of stamp duties and registration fees.
Subsidies for startups
Patel also announced that startups would be eligible for an interest subsidy of 9 percent each year within the limit of Rs. 2 lakh and marketing assistance of Rs. 1 lakh per startup. Other incentives applicable to each startup include a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh for product development and lease rental subsidy of Rs. 15 per square feet each month.
The government has also declared Rs. 2 lakh for domestic patent and Rs. 5 lakh for international patent registration.
According to initial reports, the state government has also planned two national-level summits under Vibrant Gujarat to bring together startups, incubators, accelerators and venture capitalists.
