Lecture 30

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:14]Welcome all of you. My name is Dr. Ahmed Musah Khan and I'm an assistant professor in the department of commerce, Aligar Muslim University.

[00:00:23]And today we are going to discuss with you about the policies which initiated by the Indian government for promoting the entrepreneurship in our country. It is true that Indian government has initiated numerous policies and have taken several initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in India. Let's have a look at some of them. Startup India.

[00:00:48]This is a very popular scheme launched by the government of India in January 2016 under the department of promotion of industry and internal trade which comes under the purview of ministry of commerce and trade. It is not just a program. It's a national policy framework designed to help new ventures or startups to grow and succeed.

[00:01:15]Think of it as a comprehensive support system for entrepreneurs because from funding to mentorship to tax benefits and easier compliance everything is available in it. Its goal is to make India a country where starting and running a business is not a big thing.

[00:01:33]It's just like a cakewalk.

[00:01:38]Startup India itself doesn't directly give loans or equity investments.

[00:01:43]Instead, it creates a supportive ecosystem which helps startups to access government grants, seed funding and investor networks. It is just like it is not good to give a hungry aerish. It is always better to make him learn how to do fishing because in this you are going to uh make someone self-reliant.

[00:02:12]It also provides the exemption of taxes kind of uh various exemptions of it also provides various exemption of taxes. It is like uh fasttrack patent filing and simplified compliance which indirectly saves money for startups.

[00:02:33]It is totally undeniable. It is totally undeniable that India is a country of youth. It is full of young minds with creative ideas.

[00:02:45]But in the past many ideas never turn into businesses because people could not get enough finances. They could not get in get they couldn't get enough confidence. They couldn't get enough guidance and all. So that is why this startup India aims to change that by giving entrepreneurs the right environment to grow and thrive.

[00:03:08]a platform where they can innovate without fear of failure. This is without fear of failure. In our earlier discussions, we discussed that fear of failure is something which restricts their uh which restricts their intention to become an entrepreneur. Earlier these entrepreneurs used to fa used to earlier these entrepreneurs faced several regulatory hurdles. They had to get many approvals, fill out complex forms, pay multiple taxes even before their business took off. The companies act amendment which uh they did in 2000 2013 is also mainly focused on removing these kind of regulatory hurdles and to provide ease of doing and to provide ease of doing business to all the Indians.

[00:04:07]Under Startup India many of these barriers have been removed.

[00:04:12]Registered startups can enjoy tax holidays for the first three years. They don't have to pay taxes. It's just like a honeymoon period for them.

[00:04:21]Self-certified compliance under certain labor and environmental laws and get faster patent registration at definitely lower cost because it is something they just because because patent registration or is about to protect their intellectual property.

[00:04:39]Startups are not just small businesses.

[00:04:41]They are job creators. When one person starts a company, it creates opportunities for many others from engineers to designers, marketers and service providers.

[00:04:54]So, startup India directly contributes to employment generation and it also motivates people to learn new skill and it also motivates people to learn new skills. The next is Startup India seed fund scheme.

[00:05:11]It was introduced initially to solve one of the biggest challenge faced by startups and what was that funding gap at the early stage because this total module is related with the funding and funding was very very challenging and it was very challenging for the developed countries and we are living in a developing nation so definitely it would be much more challenging.

[00:05:36]The seed fund scheme provides financial assistance to startups in their early stages particularly when they are developing their idea or prototype and they haven't attracted any investors so far. So it is called a seed fund because it works just like a seed and the way the seed helps a plant to grow with this funds helps startups to the scheme gives both nonre this scheme gives both non-reayable grants and early stage equity funding which mainly depends on the stage of the startup. This isn't alone. So no collateral or repayment like in debt funding because they are charging the it may be either in the form or in the equity. They may offer early stage financial support because startups can receive up to 20 lakh as a grant if it is because now who is going to decide that whether they will get the grant or the equity sharing kind of a thing. So if they can they are receiving up to 21 20 lakhs that would be considered as a grant for ideation and prototype development.

[00:06:51]But if they are getting or if they are looking for more than 50 lakhs or up to 50 lakhs as an investment they will have to dilute the equity.

[00:07:01]It help new businesses to validate their ideas. It allows startups to test and refine their concept before entering into the market. provide all the guidance and assistant it needs to ensure that when they when they are coming up with the idea they will come up with the most solid idea.

[00:07:22]It reduce early stage funding [clears throat] gaps. Many startups fail be many startups fail before they even begin because they cannot raise initial money. We already discussed in previous lectures that the funding issue or the scarcity or lack of proper funding is the biggest reason for many startups to get failed and not even to start their ide uh not even to commercialize the ideas.

[00:07:51]This scheme ensures that good ideas get a fair chance to grow. The next is credit guarantee scheme for startups.

[00:07:58][snorts] While the seat fund helps startups in their early stages, the credit guarantee scheme supports them later when they need larger loans to expand operations.

[00:08:11]This scheme provides collateral free loans to startups through banks and financial institutions.

[00:08:18]and collateral free loans to provide them is not an easy task because in this you are not uh there would be a lack of kind of uh guarantee cover that your money will come back. That is why this scheme enables banks and financial institutions to lend to startups without collateral. The government is responsible for providing the guarantee covers up to 20 kores.

[00:08:44]So if the startups defaults, the banks and the financial institutions are not going to bear the losses. The government will compensate it.

[00:08:53]The startup is still takes a loan but the risk for banks is been reduced. What are the main objectives behind this scheme? To provide easy access to credit for startups without demanding collateral. to encourage financial institutions to lend to startups by minimizing their risk and improve financial inclusion and support. Uh support that entrepreneurs who have strong ideas but lack financial backing.

[00:09:20]Promote long-term sustainability across key focus sectors currently around 27 sectors including technology, manufacturing, healthcare and green energy.

[00:09:32]The next is utal innovation mission or AIM. It's a flagship program launched under NITIO India's national policy think tank.

[00:09:44]It was created to promote it was basically created to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among students among the researchers among the startups all across the country. AIM is aiming actually grant-based financial support to schools, universities and other uh like incubators and accelerators for setting up tinkering labs or atal incubation centers. What are its main objectives? Its main objectives are to establish adult tinkering labs in schools where students can experiments with tools like 3D printers, robotic kits and IoT devices to set up incubation centers in universities to support early stage of startups to support early stage startups which is actually a need of the which is actually a need of the R. You have to do that. You have to support early stage startups and for that the incubators is the best solution to foster a mindset of problem solving and creativity among the youth. Next we have the Barddhan Mantri Mudra Yojna which had been launched in 2015 to support small or we can call it non-corporate businesses especially those that don't have access to formal credit.

[00:11:14]It provide loans not grants meaning they must have been repaid with interest.

[00:11:21]However, they are collateral free and often have subsidized interest rate just to just because their main motive is not money making. Its main motive is to promote entrepreneurship.

[00:11:33]It makes them easier for a small entrepreneurs to access. What are its objectives?

[00:11:39]Self-employment. It encourages individuals to start small ventures be it a tailoring shop or something very like a beauty salon or very small manufacturing unit kind of. Second objectives is business growth to provide easy collateral free loans up to 10 lakh through banks and non-banking financial companies. The third objectives is financial inclusion.

[00:12:04]It is about to bring informal businesses into the formal economy by offering them affordable credit options. Mudra loans are categorized into shishu which is up to 50,000. Kishure 50,000 to 5 lakhs.

[00:12:21]Tarun from five lakhs to 10 lakhs. So they basically divided the amount up to 10 lakhs into three different categories.

[00:12:29]up to 50,000 from 50,000 to five lakhs then from five lakhs to 10 lakhs depending on the stage of the business whether it's a shishu it's kishor or it's tar the next is aspire which is quite popular nowadays its full form is a scheme for promotion of innovation rural industries and entrepreneurship it's an initiative by the ministry of MSN and it focuses mainly on building entrepreneurship at the grassroot level that is the MSME level especially in rural and underserved areas. Aspire provides grant-based funding to set up livelihood incubation centers uh technology business incubators and different training programs.

[00:13:18]The money mainly goes to incubations or training institutions and not directly to as loan not directly as loans to individual. This they in this scheme they actually change the way of providing assistance. In other schemes they are providing direct financial assistance to the applicants but in it they are providing it through the help of the incubators. In earlier slides I also mentioned that the to have more and more number of incubators in our country is actually very much required to promote the concept because through incubators you are providing uh different kinds of assistance and nurturing their ideas. Startups supported through these incubators may receive a small seed grants or technical support not large scale financing. And what are their objective? To create new jobs and reduce rural unemployment by encouraging local businesses to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among youth in uh various villages and small towns to support agric and rural based MSMES by providing technical support and skill develop by providing technical support and skill development under Aspire. The government supports the creation of livelihood business incubators and technology business incubators that offer training, mentoring and infrastructure.

[00:14:46]It's about ensuring that innovation doesn't stay confined to cities. It spreads to every corner of the country.

[00:14:54]Finally, let's talk about a unique initiative taken uh under the digital India mission. This is called the Bashini uh Bashini dig initiative under the digital India mission called the Bashini initiative which launched very recently that is in 2022 much after this co 19.

[00:15:17]This project aims to break language barriers using cuttingedge technologies like artificial intelligence and natural language processing.

[00:15:27]Bhashini the word is derived from a Hindi word bhasha which means language.

[00:15:33]So Bhashini is not a startup funding scheme. It's a government-led digital mission. It provides grants and project based funds to tech partners, research instit research institutions and artificial intelligence companies that contribute to language technology development. The funding is purely for innovation, artificial intelligence research and technology integration. There is no debt or equity involved in it. Its main objectives are to enable all the citizens regardless of the language to access digital services and governance platforms.

[00:16:15]Use artificial intelligence tools to translate and interpret between Indian languages.

[00:16:21]making online content more inclusive.

[00:16:25]Digitally promote and preserve Indian languages by increasing the quality and quantity of native language content online because in India the value of language is very significant.

[00:16:38]There is a very popular saying in India regarding the culture and language pani sorry coi chari is a country with 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects. Bashini ensures that technology and information are not just for the Englishspeaking population which is a minority in our country and it's a foreign language for all of us but for everyone in their own language in their mother tongue. In this lecture we have discussed about various schemes and I'm not saying that these are the all total schemes and initiatives taken by Indian Indian taken by the Indian government. It is among those we have discussed in one lecture because we cannot go to discuss we because we cannot discuss every single policy or initiative taken by the Indian government in one single lecture and this is pointless. My objective is to just give you an idea about some major initiatives and uh schemes started by India that is the startup India startup India seed fund scheme credit guarantee scheme for startups atal innovation mission pradhan mantri murra yoja aspire digital India bashini initiatives it is very important for the Indians to know about these schemes because without knowing what kind of assistance is being provided by the government how we are going to get benefited from it because these schemes are purely for the Indians and especially to the youth because the government want the youth not to be a because the government want the youth of our country not to be it's not to be a job seeker but a job provider that is why we have included it in your uh curriculum that you have also have to understand the significance of these schemes and about to know these schemes are is equally important. So now I think uh now in fact I think that you have understood and you have gone through these schemes and various policies and programs initiated by the Indian government for promoting the entrepreneurship in our country.

[00:19:06]It is mainly for those who have an idea and they are just looking for certain kind of assistance definitely the monetary as well as the various guidances they cannot reach the angel investors they cannot go to the venture capitalist they don't want to dilute their uh equity because people it is difficult for them to reach the uh those who to reach those who can invest in their ideas.

[00:19:36]These people can go directly to these uh agencies. They can get benefited by these policies and this is such a great initiative taken by our government. We cannot deny that it is one of the best initiatives has been taken so far for the promotion of entrepreneurship in India. I'm really thankful for you all for and for your I'm really thankful for your engaged participation today. I think that you are capable enough and you know about these policies and you are capable enough now that if in case you have an idea and I am hoping that very soon you will have an idea so at least you will not uh be feel you will not feel discouraged just because you don't have uh funding opportunities now you know about these policies you have to go through them very properly if really you are interested in uh commercializing your ideas. These policies will be highly beneficial for you all. Thank you and I look forward to continuing this journey with you next time. Thank you and take good care of yourselves. [music]