Introduction :- 

Locked up in houses, amidst the global pandemic many of my readers would be surely missing their Ola cabs which drove them to their office, while some of my young friends would be spicing up their dreary, work from home routine with appetizing Zomato orders, while others would be busy making payments for grocery through Paytm. Intervening this tight schedule I will like to stop my readers for a moment and steal their attention to the significance and impact of all these pioneering innovations on our life as consumers, for example Ola has changed the way people used to travel, similarly shopping platforms like Myntra and Snapdeal created a difference when it comes to buying of household and lifestyle product, when it comes to health sector Pharm easy has set an another benchmark.

All these companies began as a startup and realized the secret opportunities hidden in the market which others can`t see and hence brought reforms benefitting range of consumers in different facets of life. Traditionally it has been giant companies and big businesses that remain at forefront of government support and funding but  in recent years as in many parts of the world startups have been receiving an increased attention with number of startups rapidly increasing and being supported in all dimensions with government launching campaigns to encourage entrepreneurship among young Indian population , India being a second most populous country and its demographic dividend being conducive to high potential startups having one of the largest consumer base in the world thus startups plays a key role in the growth of Indian economy  as along with more youth power India has a high unemployment rate as India`s youth despite being  skilled remains dependent on various types of jobs instead of starting their venture. 

During Union Budget 2021, the Finance Minister heavily emphasized on role of  startups and MSMEs in post covid economic revival  as they will be going to be a driver of economy in near future and thus from capital gains exemption to infrastructure boosts the budget laid down numerous incentives Five years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Start-Up India initiative , start-ups are witnessing a golden chapter with government recognizing 41,061 start-ups as of December 23, 2020, according to the Economic Survey 2020-21 and currently housing the world's third largest start-ups ecosystem, with 38 unicorns and minting around 12 such unicorns despite the disruption to the economy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Geography Of Start-ups :- 

Start-ups do not exists in vacuum and depends on broader business environment such as economic reforms, market trends technological change, govt. support and attitude of society as well. The Indian ecosystem has developed dynamically over decades with metros providing most of the readily available support and thus sustaining unique start-up ecosystem. Bangalore was one of the primary hub for start-ups with about one in four start-up being Bangalore based , later  it expanded to Maharashtra specially in Mumbai ,but now slowly and gradually we can see many start-ups coming in tier 1 and tier2 cities such as Jaipur, Chennai  ,Ahmedabad of all these locations one can see hike in start-ups in NCR regions , specially Gurugram, the tech city of Haryana . Haryana located in northern part of the country surrounds the capital is one of the largest software exporter and automobile hub of the country evolving as a base for knowledge industry.  Haryana with various progressive start-ups such as MakeMyTrip, MealHopper, Quickli, BlueStacks, etc. is facilitating as an `Innovation and Start-up Hub’.

 

Haryana Start-up Policy 2017 :- 

The state is aiming to promote technological innovation to enhance economic outcomes with a  desire to wean the economy off agricultural dependence ,and to create a  knowledge-based economy with this vision in mind attempts are being made to create  an atmosphere based on  the right cultural mindset and resource availability to stimulate a pro-innovation and entrepreneurial way of thinking in-order to build an ecosystem that favours competition, disruptive thinking, and excellence and that supports start-up teams to work on their dreams and to market their new business ideas.

Despite being geographically small, it has a significant contribution of nearly 3.5% of GDP in national economy. The Government of Haryana is further pushing to harness the potential of young entrepreneurs by providing the necessary policy push and  by linking the policy with the larger initiatives including Digital India, Make in India, Standup & Startup India and Skill India with core objective to  provide distinct levels of government support at every stage and to create a holistic and sustainable ecosystem.

 

Mission and Objectives :- 

In-order to become a resourceful & inventive Start-up Hub of the country Government`s policy envisages establishing an IT Start-up Hub in Gurugram along with establishment of  at least 10 Technology /Business Incubators / Accelerators in each of the different sectors in the State in different regions of the state  and to develop 1 million sq. ft. of Incubation Space. It aspires of building an Incubation centre in all part of State and targets attracting INR 500 Crores investments into the Incubation and Start-up Ecosystem in Haryana during policy period. It works on aligning Haryana with the ‘Startup India’ flagship initiative of the Govt. of India and to Facilitate/Incubate at least 500 start-ups . It promotes enhancing links between universities, research institutions and the business community.

 

Pillars of the Policy :- 

1. Infrastructure augmentation -  Infrastructure plays a key role in providing affordable workspaces with robust connectivity and necessary resources and thus government  to create a world class incubator facility offering an end to end ecosystem for entrepreneurs. With respect to it government has initiated a number of measures such as introducing a start-up warehouse on 10,000 Sq. ft. of land in Gurugram ,signing an MoU with IAMAI to establish Mobile Application Centre and to build a start-up support system over 2 acres land .
 

2. Fiscal Support -  Unlike larger established firms start-ups generally lack resources and thus needs to be supported during it`s initial years ,so  to boost the entrepreneurship in the State govt. proposed plateful of fiscal incentives ad investment facilitation through funds for incubators and Start-ups.
 

3. Fund of Fund – Government has committed to create corpus of INR 200 Cr to  provide funding in nature of Fund of Funds that means govt. t will not invest directly into Start-ups, but shall participate in SEBI-approved early stage Venture Capital Funds, Up to 10% as Limited Partner.
 

4. Regulatory initiatives -  In order to create a conducive environment for businesses to grow govt. is embarking on some landmark reforms for regulatory simplification such as ensuring  time bound clearances and exemption from inspections.
 

5. Student Entrepreneurship – In-order to inculcate habit of innovation and entrepreneurship in young minds it`s vital to provide strong educational support thus entrepreneurial skills will be  integrated with the education curriculum.

 

Opportunities & Challenges :- 

Haryana being a pioneer player in innovation and digitalization, be it digital keeping of land records or promoting payment and government services through digital platforms. Glorifying stories of start-ups like DronaMaps  empowering farmers with its multispectral Image analytics through drones for Precision Agriculture and Chiron X a computer based start-up for early disease detection testifies that Haryana has a pandora of opportunities in form of  favourable demography with 35% working population , having large agriculture and diverse culture has a high scope in rural areas and further boosted by increased political will and government support.  However start-up rankings give Haryana a wake up call , with a drastic decline from 3rd to 16th rank in ease of doing business the state was placed in the third-last category of aspiring leaders in the new start-up ranking. There are some typical challenges that almost every new start-up  , however some are quite peculiar to the State such as diversity and digital divide creating an information gap between consumers and service provides ,with most of the startups being clustered around few handpick cities such as Gurugram , Faridabad leads to regional imbalance. Recently with state`s proposed job reservation law  , reserving 75% of private sector jobs that pay up to Rs 50,000 a month for locals  their lies a threat of  start-up exodus .

 

Conclusion :- 

Start-ups carry great hopes to be the driver of growth specially post covid period ,when Indian markets will be offering many opportunities and being a part of broader economy have received increased attention , however to reap it`s best fruits  their lies a long way to go for both government and the youth .

References :- 

1. Entrepreneur and Startup Policy 2017, https://startupharyana.gov.in/files/startup-policy_final_28th-sep.pdf , June 8,2021.
2. Sabrina Korreck, The Indian startup ecosystem: Drivers, challenges and pillars of support, https://www.orfonline.org/research/the-indian-startup-ecosystem-drivers-challenges-and-pillars-of-support-55387/#_edn9 , June 9,2021.
3. Peter Ester, Innovation and Startups in Silicon Valley An Ecosystem Approach , https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1zrvhk7.7 , June 10,2021.