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In two years, Mohali STPI supported 28 start-ups, helped generate 288 jobs
Five start-ups from Mohali received seed fund of ₹25 lakh each, under Next Generation Incubation Scheme
In two years since the launch of the Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) of the central government, the Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Mohali, has supported 28 start-ups that have generated 288 jobs. Five start-ups from Mohali received NGIS seed fund of ₹25 lakh each.
During the Lok Sabha session held recently, the Ministry of electronics and information technology, in its reply to a question, stated that the Ministry has decided to promote NGIS to support software product ecosystem and address a significant portion of National Policy on Software Product (NPSP), 2019.
NGIS scheme was launched on August 28, 2020, in 12 cities including Mohali. More than 250 start-ups applied, out of which 28 got support from STPI Mohali and five received funds of ₹25 lakh funds each.
Mohali STPI director Ajay P Shrivastava said due procedure is followed in selection of start-ups for funding. “First, a pre-screening is done, then applicants are invited for formal pitching before the regional management committee and the final selection is done through central management committee. We urge more start-ups to apply for the scheme. For information regarding NGIS scheme, one can log on to www.ngis.stpi.in,” he said.
5 yrs on, UT yet roll out its dedicated start-up policy
Five years after it started framing the draft of a dedicated start-up policy for Chandigarh, the UT administration is yet to roll out the scheme.
Industries secretary Hargunjit Kaur said, “We are working on it but are not sure when we can roll it out.”
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Startup India Policy in 2015, UT and states were directed to frame their own policies, tailored to the needs of entrepreneurs in their respective regions. Chandigarh administration had started the process of framing the draft policy in 2018, which was to cover the IT sector, manufacturing, agriculture and services industry. The administration is also planning to create a start-up hub, and set up a seed fund with a corpus of ₹50 crore.
As per the draft of the policy, UT administration is to provide assistance to entrepreneurs in getting different registrations, certificates, organising finances and labour, getting environment-related compliances and navigating other bureaucratic regulations. The administration had also planned to apprise entrepreneurs and techies of the legalities and policies they can avail.
