The Uttar Pradesh government has fast-tracked the work on startup policy and has released Rs 41 lakh to the Startup Nodal Agency to be disbursed to startups and incubators whose proposals are already approved by the Policy Implementation Committee (PIU).
A corpus fund of Rs 150 crore has also been set up by the government with the help of Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) to fund startups at the stage of ideation, patent registration, participation in domestic and international events etc.
“UP Startup Fund launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is fast gaining traction and will soon start disbursing growth capital to UP-based startups. The UP’s much talked about fund has garnered interest from leading Venture Funds/AIFs (Alternative Investment Fund) of the country,” said an official of the Industries department.
SIDBI, the designated fund manager for the UP Startup Fund, has so far received four applications from leading AIFs in the country for an aggregate amount of Rs 285 crore to create the initial corpus. The decision on these applications will soon be taken by the SIDBI and the Startup Nodal Agency in its first Venture Capital Investment Committee (VCIC) meeting scheduled to be held this month.
Apart from resolving the funding woes of startups, the policy also promises to create a robust ecosystem for startups to grow and nurture their startup ideas by setting up 100 incubators, at least one in each district, including the establishment of India’s largest incubator in the state capital Lucknow.
In view of the above, many academic institutions such as Banaras Hindu University, High Tech Institute, ABES Engineering College, Krishna Engineering College, Jaipuria Institute of Management etc. have shown interest in setting up incubators under the new policy to support entrepreneurial journeys of startups.
The policy also focuses on giving wings to dreams of Divyangjan, women and transgender community by offering additional incentives and creating employment opportunities for them through this new startup policy.
This is one of its kind initiatives by any state government in the country to bring these communities into the mainstream of the business world through the startup ecosystem.
The policy, since its launch, has been lauded by all the stakeholders of the startup ecosystem and hailed as a great catalyst for creating self-employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for the state’s youth.
An official of the Industry department said that the chief minister’s concern for regional imbalance in the state, especially for Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions, has also been addressed in the policy by offering additional incentives for startups and incubators operating from these regions.
He said this would help in democratising the startup ecosystem across the state which so far was heavily dominated by Tier 1 cities like Noida.
The future of UP Startups looks promising with the new policy in action.