Bygone are the dark days of an Indian startup entrepreneur. The sun is rising slowly from beneath the dark deep Indian ocean with its rays of hope slowly sweeping the Indian startup ecosystem. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Startup Action Plan, if executed as per the vision, will give the much needed shot in the arm an Indian entrepreneur could ever wish for.
In days when startup entrepreneurs face deep neglect from the society, the Prime Minister's action plan looks like a mom’s holding hand, which every startup so much desires. If we peek around, we can realise that Indian brains are the most demanding ones. And if we could block brain drain to greener Silicon Valley through this action plan it will be the rise of a new super power of tomorrow.
Startups generally face funding difficulties while taking their baby-steps as revenues will be limited during initial days. They really need an angel's supportive hands to chase their big dreams. In the action plan, 'Funding Support and Incentives Package' looks most promising.
Announcements such as providing funding support through a “Fund of Funds” with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, Credit Guarantee Fund, tax exemption on capital gains and tax exemption to startups for the first three years are all quite interesting. Such support will build a startup ecosystem. Besides, those with "promising ideas" and "will to execute" can build their dreams rather than move to greener pastures abroad to build on someone else's dream.
As our late President APJ Abdul Kalam rightly pointed out, 'Dreams are things which do not let you sleep', we wish the 'selection mechanism' of startups explained in the action plan will be 100 per cent transparent. So, those with merits and deep commitments and people who set aside all other dreams for startup dream will be chosen. We wish this package never get lost in red tapes or get trapped in wrong hands for scoring political benefits.
Specifically, we must give more importance to IT as it needs least resources (mainly brain capital and salary for team members)) and can generate more returns in short terms. And if we truly believe/support/invest in our Indian startup dreams, tomorrow the world will conspire together to help us catch our dream stars.
(The writers are co-founders, Tuttifrutti Interactive)