The government of India and the Ministry of MSME have launched several unique Government schemes and programs designed to empower startups. We have covered the top 5 government schemes for startup, which can help startups to grow and start better businesses. The Government of India is very clear about it when it comes to empowering India’s startups and knows that startups need to be encouraged, facilitated, and protected for the betterment of India. When it comes to tech startups India ranks among the fastest growing ecosystem, and Startups are the foundation on which the government’s self-reliant mission and Make in India vision will succeed by creating more jobs, increasing exports, raising the standard of living for millions of Indians and making India globally powerful. So, right now, India is in a unique position where both public and private investors want Indian entrepreneurs and startups to be successful and make their presence felt across the globe. Here are the top 5 government schemes for startups that can help them grow and accelerate business:-
Top Five Government Schemes for Startup
1. Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge:-
4th July 2020 has been a historic day for Indian startups and the gear that India’s startups have gained since that day is the day the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced the launch of the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge”. With this launch, PM Modi encouraged the startups of India to come together and develop ‘Made in India’ applications that will not only benefit the people of India but the entire world. In his tweet, the PM encouraged all the tech and startup community to come together and develop world-class mobile applications as part of the challenge. The challenge was launched under the Digital India Mission in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and IT and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), an initiative of NITI Aayog. In another tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged everyone to participate in this challenge with their thoughts and vision and gave the challenge a tagline, “Give us the code for a self-reliant”.The innovation challenge was launched with the 8 different parts given below:-
- Office productivity and work from home
- News
- Business
- Entertainment
- Games
- E-learning
- Social networking
- Health and Wellness
2. Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program (QSMP):-
Qualcomm, the mobile chipset manufacturing company is partnered with the Center government for the development of advanced computing (C-DAC) to conduct a program for startups in 2022. C-DAC is the research and development organization of the ministry of electronics and information technology. With this program, Qualcomm India intends to provide technical training and mentorship in industry outreach opportunities to highly acclaimed Indian startups from the semiconductor space. As of April 30, 2022, Qualcomm India shortlisted around 10 Indian startups for QSMP 2022 and each of these startups will be linked with a Qualcomm India leader for advice on product planning and development.
3. Digital India Bhasini:-
Digital India Bhasini is an initiative announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with numerous other initiatives like IndiaStack and Digital India Genesis. Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and IT led a session with Researchers and Startups aimed to shape strategy for Digital India Bhasini. Globally when PM Modi launched Digital India Week 2022 in July 2022 in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), the scheme aims to help Indians have easy access to the internet and digital services in local languages. The Bhashini platform will make artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) resources available in the public domain to MSMEs, startups, and individual innovators.
4. Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS):-
Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched a Rs 945 crore scheme named ‘Startup India Seed Fund’ to help startups and support the ideas of aspiring entrepreneurs in the Grand Plenary Address of Prarambh: Startup India International Summit on 16 January 2021, after approval of EFC (Expenditure Finance Committee) and the Hon’ble Finance Minister. PM Modi said that the government is taking important steps to ensure that startups in India do not face a shortage of funds. It will endorse an estimated 3,600 entrepreneurs through 300 incubators over the next 4 years. The Seed Fund will be expended to eligible startups through eligible incubators across India.
5. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY):-
Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, in which micro-unit development and Mudra Bank provide loans at low rates to micro-finance institutions and non-banking financial institutions, which in turn provide low-interest loans to startups and MSMEs.This scheme was launched in 2015 and within 2 years 1.8 crore jobs were created under this scheme, for the financial year 2022-23 till July 2022, around 8.9 million loans amounting to 339110 crores were sanctioned under this scheme. There are three categories of businesses that can take loans under the Mudra Yojana:
- Shishu: This is for new business, and loans up to Rs 50,000 can be availed under this category.
- Kishor: This is for mid-aged businesses, and loans from 50,000 to 5 lakhs can be availed under this category.
- Tarun: This is for experienced businesses, and covers loans above 5 lakhs and up to Rs 10 lakhs under this category.