Modi 2.0 provides booster shot for Startup India, Digital India

Corporate India, which includes startups, always looks for stability in terms of economic policies, and the return of the NDA government for the second time is a much-needed reassurance.

Thimmaya Poojary 2057 Stories

Thursday May 23, 2019 , 2 min Read

The long reign of political stability in India - much needed for businesses - has begun with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) poised to storm back to power going by early trends, beating all fears of incumbency. And this means good tidings for the Startup India mission.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now comfortably placed for the next five years to finish his unfinished agenda, which he had started in the previous term. There are hopes that Startup India would get a big boost now, and entrepreneurs would sprout across the country to create much-needed employment.

Also read: Mission Shakti: India is now a space superpower, announces Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Startup India is a coveted project of the tech savvy Prime Minister, though it did not take off on expected lines as challenges around the issue of Angel Tax became a big dampener for the startup ecosystem. Credit should be given to the government for successfully dealing with the issue and Angel Tax is not so much of a big worry now.

The Startup India, when it was launched on January 16, 2016, had one clear goal in mind: to empower startups to grow through innovation and design. “Several programmes have been undertaken since the launch of the initiative on January, 16, 2016, by Hon’ble Prime Minister, to contribute to his vision of transforming India into a country of job creators instead of job seekers,” says the Startup India.

The Startup India Action plan has a 19-point agenda, which envisages several incubation centres, easier patent filing, tax exemptions, ease of setting-up of business, a Rs 10,000 crore corpus fund, and a faster exit mechanism, among others.

The other big action area for Prime Minister Modi has been to transform the country through Digital India. The idea was not to just connect the unconnected and bridge the digital divide, but to enable the country to leapfrog onto the technology superhighway.

“The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy,” says the government.

Also read: YourStory’s Exclusive Interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi