Govt Approves 500 Cr for Narendra Modi’s Vision on Startup India
In order to boost PM Modi’s vision of Start Up, the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has churned out an umbrella plan under the NIDHI (National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovations), for nurturing ideas and technology-driven innovations into successful startups. While addressing the media in Delhi, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that the initiative would bring both speed and scale to transform the Startup Ecosystem in the country. It will implement 500 Cr for this program in the next few years, under which seed funding of up to 10 lakh will go for prototype development and fabrication facilities access in incubators. In the future, the department will also help connect the innovators with angel investors and venture capitalists.
Under NIDHI, a number of other schemes are likely to be started which will focus on addressing the gap between idea and prototype funding. Vardhan also announced the names of six proposed centers of excellence by the National Expert Advisory Committee–SINE-IIT Bombay, Venture Center-NCL Pune, CIIE-IIM Ahmedabad and a research park at IIT-Gandhinagar. The program aims to provide technological solutions not only to the pressing needs of the society but also targets to create new avenues for wealth and job creation.
The key stakeholders of NIDHI include various departments and ministries of the central government, state governments, academic and R & D institutions, mentors, financial institutions, angel investors, venture capitalists, industry champions and private sectors. There are 8 components of NIDHI that support each stage of a budding startup from idea to market. The first component PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators & Startups), launched on 2nd September 2016, aims to support innovators to build prototypes of their ideas by providing a grant up to Rs.10 lakhs and an access to Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab). The final component is the Seed Support System which provides up to One Crore rupees per start-up and is implemented through Technology Business Incubators.
Apart from setting the ground ready for the prospective startups in an enabling an environment of Incubators,
DST has also partnered with large corporates like Intel, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments and Boeing to initiate a variety of technology driven and innovation based programs to promote startups. Further, DST has also partnered with Department of Higher Education, MHRD to establish Research Parks and Startup Centers in various academic institutions of national importance.
“Indian youths are highly talented and innovative–through NIDHI we would like to ignite the spark and help them to succeed and make India a preferred Startup Nation in near future,” he concluded.