Aiming to develop a start-up ecosystem by 2023, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (ANI) became the first Union Territory (UT) to formulate ‘Innovation and Start-up Policy’. The policy, which was released in 2018, came out with a series of incentives and reforms to foster a culture of innovative thinking and risk-taking.
It came as a pleasant surprise when just a year after the policy formulation, ANI emerged as the top performer among 13 states and UTs in the start-up rankings of 2019 and as many as 92 start-ups were registered within a year. How did the UT manage to do that? Let’s have a look at the policy details and what it offers:
Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem
The administration aims to promote the culture of innovation and risk-taking at school-level itself by creating infrastructure and programs.
The Government plans to set up Atal Tinkering Labs in high schools along with start-up festivals to showcase innovations. An industrial training semester will be established at universities and students working on their start-ups will be given extra credits. Entrepreneurship cells and Incubation Centres will be set up in colleges to engage alumni, host leadership talks, conduct festivals and encourage women entrepreneurs.
Funding and Incentives
- The administration, through Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited. (ANIIDCO Ltd), will create an initial innovation fund of Rs 1 Crore to support establishment of start-up incubators.
- The administration will grant upto Rs 15,000 per month for a period of 1 year to start-ups. The administration will grant up to Rs 3 lakh from start-ups operating in the region at Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage.
- The administration has come up with one-time marketing/publicity assistance up to Rs 3 lakh for start-up to take their product to market. The cost of filing and prosecution of National or International Patent/Trademark/Copyright application of start-ups will be reimbursed.
- Start-ups will also be eligible for annual reimbursement of state GST paid in sales of goods for a period of 3 years up to a maximum of Rs 3 lakh per start-up per year.
‘‘
The UT administration has come up with one-time marketing/publicity assistance up to Rs 3 lakh for start-up to take their product to market.
Non-Fiscal Incentives
- The UT will partner with leading cloud service providers and virtual start-up program of industry association to provide start-up kits with cloud credits and softwares to IT/ITeS start-ups.
- Star-ups will be permitted to file self-certification and exempted from inspection.
Policy Governance
The administration has come up with a 2-tier governance structure—Start-up Council, which will be the apex body for policy implementation, monitoring, ecosystem development and advisory; and Innovation Team, which will serve as the nodal team driving the policy.
What’s in it for me?
The UT has been aggressively campaigning and reaching out to all gram panchayats and conducting awareness campaigns in its quest to become a start-up hub. If you are a start-up in the region, looking for assistance and growth, acquaint yourself to further details here.
