In the government’s bid to promote the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem in India, the Startup India campaign was launched last year. As part of this, patent applications for startups were made eligible for expedited examination May 2016 onward. This measure was taken to enhance the ease of doing business by removing the elaborate and complicated process of approaching the inter-ministerial board to procure the IPR benefits.
Earlier an inter-ministerial board would examine the startup, now, only a recognition certificate from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is required. A startup is any firm that is incorporated as either a Private Limited Company or a Registered Partnership firm or a Limited Liability Partnership that has been registered/incorporated up to 5 years ago. The organisation should not have been formed by the splitting up or reconstruction of an already existing business and the turnover for any fiscal year should not have exceeded INR 25 Cr. Lastly, but most notably, the company should be working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new product, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property.
To encourage startups to register, the government has also put in place some advantages, some of them include:
– Self-certification and compliance under 9 Environmental & Labour laws
– Startup patent application fast track & up to 80% rebate in filling patents
– Tax exemptions on Income tax for 3 years
– Tax exemptions on capital gains and on Investments above Fair Market Value
– Relaxing norms of Public procurement under the criteria of “prior experience/turnover” for startups in all Central Government Ministries/Departments
– Winding up company in 90 days under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code 2016
