Startup Policy gets dept nod, offers Rs 10 cr annual incentives

With focus on encouraging innovation and economic growth, the UT Finance Department has given approval to Chandigarh Startup Policy-2025.

According to officials, the policy will be sent to the UT Administrator for final approval and could be rolled out next week. It is aimed at boosting entrepreneurship with financial incentives worth Rs 10 crore annually and a total corpus of Rs 50 crore over a period of five years. After multiple revisions and delays, the main focus of policy has been kept on developing startups and strengthening incubators in the region.

On September 3, 2022, the UT Administration unveiled the draft startup policy with a dedicated startup fund for the city ecosystem.

In October last year, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria approved the policy, but gave some suggestions to be included in the policy. Kataria emphasised the need to simplify the administrative procedure in it.

Under the policy, three government higher education institutions (HEIs) and one private HEI will be designated as UT-recognised incubators. Each government incubator will receive up to Rs 30 lakh, while the private one will get Rs 20 lakh for technology upgrades. Additionally, an annual sustenance allowance of Rs 7.5 lakh will be provided per incubator for operational expenses. To support mentorship and training, incubators will also receive Rs 5 lakh annually.

To encourage entrepreneurship, the administration has earmarked Rs 90 lakh for a grand startup competition. Each year, the top 20 startups will receive a grant of Rs 2 lakh, along with incubation support for one year, while the next 50 runners-up will be awarded Rs 1 lakh each.

For seed-stage and early-growth startups, a Rs 4.6-crore corpus has been set aside. Under seed-stage startups, 20 eligible ventures will receive up to Rs 7 lakh each, with an additional Rs 2 lakh for women-led and transgender-founded ventures. Under early-growth startups, 20 eligible ones will get up to Rs 12 lakh each to support commercialisation.

The policy also includes reimbursement-based fiscal incentives, such as subsidised rent of Rs 5,000 for office space per month, support of Rs 1 lakh for IT and quality certifications, a support of Rs 10,000 for filing patent, Rs Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh for conference and workshop participation and Rs 2-3 lakh for participation in acceleration programme.