The Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has chalked out a financial assistance scheme to encourage entrepreneurs establish new startups and generate employment opportunities in the State.

The “Scheme for Assistance for Startups in the State” notified by the State Government under the provisions of its Haryana Enterprises and Employment Policy 2020 offers financial assistance in the form of seed grant of upto Rs 10 lakh, lease rental subsidy upto Rs 5 lakh, 100 percent net SGST reimbursement for seven years among other incentives to promote startups in Haryana.

Under the scheme, the Government will provide seed grant of up to Rs 10 lakh per startup for 100 startups in ‘A’ category blocks, 200 startups for ‘B’ category blocks, 300 startups for ‘C’ category blocks and 400 startups for ‘D’ category blocks in the state. A five-member committee of State Government under Administrative Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, Haryana will be the final authority on idea selection for seed grant.

The reimbursement of 30 percent of lease rental subsidy for general and 45 percent for startups with only women founders for a period of one year up to Rs 5 lakh will also be offered. The government has also decided to provide interest subsidy of eight percent, maximum upto Rs 20 lakh per year for a period of five years to the startup registered in the state. Financial support of up to Rs 2.5 lakh will also be offered to the startups to attend national acceleration programs and Rs 5 lakh for international acceleration programmes.

Among other incentives under the scheme include, 100 percent net SGST reimbursement for seven years with cap of 150 percent FCI ( fixed capital investment) and 100 percent reimbursement of expenses incurred for cloud computing or storage on Haryana based Data Centres for up to Rs 1 lakh per startup per annum for a period of three years.

Aiming to further strengthen the ecosystem for promotion of startups in the State, the Government has decided that the Director or Director General, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, (competent authority) shall sanction the subsidy within 30 days from the date of completion of the claim. As per the time limit set for service delivery, a letter of approval will be given in 45 days, letter of sanction in seven days and subsidy disbursement in seven days to the startups.

For availing financial incentives from the State Government, the startup units that have filed Udhyam Registration Certificate (URC) and Haryana Udhyam Memorandum (HUM) shall be eligible under the scheme. The unit should be in commercial production or operation for the benefits of this scheme, except for seed grant, for which incentives can be availed on the basis of idea selection.

In another provision made under the scheme to deal with fraudsters, in case, it is found at any stage that the applicant has claimed the assistance on the basis of wrong facts, the applicant will besides refunding assistance with compound rate of interest at 12 percent per annum and facing legal action, will be debarred from grant of any incentive or assistance from the State Government. And, if the applicant fails to refund the assistance amount with interest, then the amount shall be recovered as arrear of land revenue.

Notably, Haryana Enterprises and Employment Policy 2020 launched by the State Government last year aimed at generating five lakh jobs, attracting investments over Rs one lakh crore, doubling the exports to Rs 2 lakh crore and strengthening supply chain facilities and infrastructure across 22 districts. Providing a competitive incentives framework was a key part of the policy for nurturing entrepreneurship and generating employment opportunities in the State.