The Haryana Government has prepared the draft start-up policy to develop the State as a resourceful and inventive start-up hub of the country by supporting and assisting the new-age innovators and entrepreneurial talent.
The policy aimed at attracting investments to the tune of Rs 500 crore in the incubation and start-up ecosystem in Haryana during the policy period, facilitating venture capital funding of a minimum of Rs 200 crore and encouraging, facilitating and incubating at least 500 start-ups, said an official spokesman.
He said that this is to be done by creating a sustainable ecosystem of innovation, research and development and engineering in the state, aligning Haryana with the ‘Start-up India’ flagship initiative of the Central Government, enhancing links between universities, research institutions and the business community and promoting businesses that are aligned with a region’s unique areas of opportunity.
For this purpose, it is proposed to establish an IT Start-up Hub in Gurugram and at least ten technology, business incubators or accelerators in each sector in different regions of the State. It is also proposed to build incubation centres in all parts of the State and develop one million square feet of incubation space, said he.
The spokesman said that for the purpose of the draft policy, start-up means an entity, incorporated or registered in Haryana not prior to five years with an annual turnover not exceeding Rs 25 crore in any preceding financial year.
This entity should be working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialisation of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property. Such an entity should not have been formed by splitting up, or reconstruction, of a business already in existence and should not have been formed by the demerger or reconstitution of a business already in existence, said he.
Also, such an entity would cease to avail further benefits under this draft policy if its turnover for the previous financial years has exceeded Rs 25 crore and/or it has completed five years from the date of incorporation or registration.
He said that to be eligible, the company or entity should be registered in Haryana under the Haryana Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1958 should employ at least 50 per cent of its total qualified workforce in Haryana, excluding contract employees.
All applications of potential start-ups received by the Trust would undergo a preliminary examination by a committee set up by the Trust headed by the Principal Secretary or Secretary, Industries Department. After preliminary examination, a list of shortlisted applications would be tagged to the subject concerned related incubators.
The list of all such tagging (applicants with incubators) would be approved by the Trust. He said that the draft policy would have as its pillars infrastructure augmentation, fiscal support, fund of fund creation, regulatory support and student entrepreneurship. Infrastructure augmentation involves development of training infrastructure, including Start-up Warehouse being developed by Haryana State Electronic Development Corporation limited (HARTRON) over 10,000 square feet in Gurugram, Mobile Application Centre being established over 4,000 square feet at Hartron Multi Skill Development Centre, Gurugram, and Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be built in Gurugram.
Apart from this, incubation centres would be created across Haryana, and the state would develop its own incubation network by leveraging the existing infrastructure.
The government would also establish at least one world-class Accelerator by inviting Global Accelerators to set up their programme in the state by providing support and space to bring in international expertise. Established players in this field would be invited to establish incubation centers in the State, and they would be provided all possible support for this purpose, said the spokesman.
Under fiscal support, the Government would provide fiscal incentives to incubators, including capital subsidy, reimbursement for recurring expenses, exemption on Stamp Duty and registration, mentoring assistance support and start-up competition assistance.
The Government would also provide to the start-ups and entrepreneurs interest subsidy, lease rental subsidy, innovation promotion subsidy, incentives and provisions under the Enterprises Promotion Policy-2015 and assistance for programme and app development.
Under the Fund of Fund component, to provide funding support to start-ups, Haryana Government would create a corpus of Rs 200 crore for equal utilisation as seed funding for incubating the ideas, and as financial support through venture capital funds for scalability, added the spokesman.
As per the draft policy, the State Government would also work with universities, educational institutions and the industry to provide pre-trained manpower in emerging technologies and to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in all sectors.
This would be done through academic intervention, distribution of technology kits in schools and scientific conferences for industry-institute collaboration. Universities may also introduce the concept of Student Entrepreneur in Residence wherein students who wish to pursue entrepreneurship could take a break of one year, after the first year, to pursue entrepreneurship full time.
The spokesman said that a Policy Implementation Committee would be constituted under the chairmanship of Administrative Secretary, Information Technology Department. Managing Director, HARTRON, would serve as Deputy Chairperson, whereas members would include Administrative Secretary, Finance, Dean, IIM Rohtak, Regional Head, SIDBI, representative from Funds, two representatives of Association and two special invitee members who are subject or sector experts.
The draft policy has been posted on the website of Electronics and Information Technology Department to invite feedback from all stakeholders, he added.