Looking to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses within the state, the Haryana government will be announcing its own startup policy next month at the Digital Haryana Summit according to reports. The government had previously planned to launch the startup policy in 2015 and later in 2016 as well but suffered setbacks on both occasions. However, in May of this year, they did release a draft ‘Startup Policy 2017.’
“For a while now, the state government wanted to launch a state policy on the lines of Karnataka. It will be finally be launched in the presence of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar next month, at the Digital Haryana Summit,” said a senior IT department official. The summit will be held on Spetember 15 in Gurgaon.
The state government has been working on the startup policy for the past two years along with Nasscom and KPMG, according to officials in the IT department.
“Nasscom has been working with the government on a number of initiatives over the years. The start-up policy will provide anchor support for the state’s entrepreneurs. Nasscom is committed to working with the local ecosystem to strengthen it further,” said Sumit Swarup of Nasscom.
As of now, some of India’s biggest startups like Zomato, Ola, Grofers, Snapdeal and more are set up in Gurgaon and is largely restricted to this area as a startup hub. While there have also been growing suggestions of pushing entrepreneurship in other cities in Haryana, Gurgaon is being pushed as the state’s startup hub.
Albinder Dhindsa, founder of grocery portal Grofers, said that he’s optimistic about the policy and while the fine prints of the policy are yet to be made public, the government is expected to provide for cheap finance, easier processes and industry incentives.
Gurgaon got its first incubation centre in December of 2016 and that remains one of the most sought after demands among the startup founders. Other suggestions include digitisation of processes like company registration and taxation in addition to making regulatory frameworks easier.
“Startups in Gurgaon have the advantage of targeting the city’s millennial crowd and experiment with new ideas. However, they look for the government’s backing, such as like cheap/free office spaces, as real estate is quite expensive, as also with policy support for exemption from state tax rules, capital pool, networking opportunities and support for other towns,” said co-living startup, CoHo’s founder Uday Lakkar.
