Index
- Introduction
- About Startup Karnataka
- Objectives and Vision
- Eligibility Criteria
- Benefits Startups Karnataka
Introduction
Bengaluru is the IT Hub of India. It is the home to some of the oldest IT companies in India. This city could be called the silicon valley of India. It provides vast opportunities to tech startup as its environment is inclined towards growth. The government of Karnataka understood the importance of Bengaluru and hence launched initiatives such as Startup Karnataka. This initiative focuses on uplifting the scenario of startups in the state by providing support in various ways. In this article, we will talk about all we need to know about Startup Karnataka.
About Startup Karnataka
The capital of Karnataka, Bangalore, is the IT hub of India. One of the most prominent contributors to the IT sector of India. According to a survey, Bengaluru houses around 5000 active startups. In the world ranking of best startup ecosystems, Bengaluru stands at 15th position. After all this, the government of Karnataka took the initiative of starting a Startup cell for the state. Startup Karnataka is a startup cell dedicated to the startups of Karnataka to increase the scope of startups by providing a supportive ecosystem to them. This ecosystem includes strategic investment and lenient policies to boost entrepreneurship in Bengaluru.
Objectives and Vision
The startup Karnataka initiative aims to make sure that Bengaluru stays to be the most important IT hub in India. Apart from this it also focuses on stimulating growth of 20000 tech-based startups and 6000 product startups by 2020; generating six lakhs and 12 lakhs of direct and indirect employment or jobs in the state respectively; providing a fund of 2000 crores by the government for investment in startups; generation of 25 innovative tech solutions that could benefit the healthcare food security, clean environment, and education sectors; build a singleton stop that provides information of incentives, events, environment; supporting startups to participate in international conferences organized by the program.
Eligibility Criteria
Under this policy, the venture should be classified as a startup for which it has to be technology-based, the date for incorporation should be less than four years, seven for BT companies. It should also be registered in Karnataka, and at least 50% of the employees should be native of Karnataka. Apart from this, the company cannot be a reconstitution of an existing firm, any subsidiary, a merged firm, a franchise, sponsored or related to any firm in the state with a turnover more significant than 300 crores, 50% of the income is derived from loans.
Benefits of Startup Karnataka
There are several benefits to this initiative, and we have listed below the main points of this scheme:
- Technology Business Incubators will be placed in higher education institutions to bridge the gap between research and development and the industry. The areas covered by TBIs will be ICT, Manufacturing, Energy, Agriculture, Nanotech, Education, CleanTech, Healthcare, and water. The host institution has to provide space and share facilities with the TBI cell.
- Early Stage Funding is provided for innovators who require early-stage funding to set up the idea. Funding for the initial stage will be a one time grant that is not more than 50 lakhs.
- Private Sector Participation will mean the usage of individual services such as established incubators and accelerators.
- The government of Karnataka will set up CIF (Common Instrumentation Facilities)across the state. These will be made public.
- Funds will be set up to invest in startups. The manager of these funds will be a professional fund manager who will be selected through the bidding process.
- The state will use Grand challenges to spread competition and enthusiasm on specific critical issues.
- A startup council will be set up by Startup Karnataka, headed by the chief minister of Karnataka. There will be several other ministers in the team. There will be a review committee and a policy monitoring committee to check up on the progress of the initiative. The system will be reviewed annually.
- The incentives and concessions are the make or break deal for a startup. Under Startup Karnataka initiative, the startups will be eligible for tax benefits if they fill the criteria given below:
- Reimbursement of the money spent in cost of filing and prosecution, to a limit of 2 lakhs. Foreign patents will be granted a refund of 10 lakh. For more details, you can visit the official website of Startup Karnataka.
- 30% of the reimbursement of the marketing costs that include internal marketing, travel costs, and many more. The incentive cannot be more than five lakhs.
There are several other benefits of this initiative that can be read in detail from the official website of Startup Karnataka. This initiative is a step towards making India a robust and developed economy. Startup Karnataka will keep Bengaluru as one of the top IT hubs around the globe.
