Maharashtra alters procurement policy to help start-up firms

By tweaking its procurement policy, it has made all start-ups without any previous experience eligible for participating in bidding process for the purchases made by the state government.

The Maharashtra government has decided to roll out the red carpet for starts-ups in the state. By tweaking its procurement policy, it has made all start-ups without any previous experience eligible for participating in bidding process for the purchases made by the state government. The companies will be able to make use of this facility for the first five years after they register with the central government.

The Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government on Tuesday revised its procurement policy with many significant changes that are made to encourage young entrepreneurs. (HT file photo)

The Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government on Tuesday revised its procurement policy (for various items that are bought by the government for its offices, establishments as well as institutes/boarding schools run by it) with many significant changes that are made to encourage young entrepreneurs.

“For the first time, we have allowed start-ups to participate in the bidding process for procurement to be made by the state government,” said Apoorva Chandra, principal secretary state industries department.

With these changes, the government aims to entertain start-ups with new technological inventions that will be tested by Science and Entrepreneur Technology Park (STEP) in Pune, set up by the central government. Start-ups will be eligible for this facility only in its first three years.

While for procuring products for human consumption, the government has decided to make ‘quality’ as its criteria for bidding process. “In such cases, we will go by technical bid and not financial bids,” Chandra added.