Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (16 January) doled out several tax exemptions and financial incentives to enthuse young entreprenuers in India. The startup action plan today, read like a startup wish list as Modi announced a flurry of sops for the startup ecosystem in India.
The announcement comes months after Modi made a whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley, meeting the chief executives of Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Apple Inc.
Here are the five biggest incentives announced by the Prime Minister:
Tax exemption for three years
All profit making startups can breathe a sigh of relief as Modi exempted them from coughing up income tax for the first 3 years of their creation.
Patent fee cut by 80%
Innovations in India can now be patented at a much lower cost as the Prime Minister cut patent fees by 80 per cent.
Capital gains tax exemption
Keeping with a long-term wish of investors, Modi announced capital gains tax exemption for venture capital investment into startups.
3-year exemption from inspections
To ease being a startup in India, Modi has exempted the country’s new sunshine sector from all inspections for the first 3 years of their existence. This is freedom from inspections into compliance of labour and environment laws, instead the government will now recognise self-certification.
Startup registration App
The government will introduce a mobile-abased app from April 1, 2016 to facilitate startup registration. This magic app will ensure the setting up of a company in just 24 hours, cutting short several permits and permissions required to set up businesses in India.
BW Reporters
With about 10 years as a journalist, Suchetana has covered a wide range of issues from the Singur agitations in Bengal in 2007 to the 2G scam and more recently the Modi government’s financial policies. Her forte is investigative reporting and reporting on tax policies of the government. Before she joined BW Businessworld as National News Editor in August, she worked with ET Now for 7 years as News Editor.
