Intellectual Property Rights Now Available Without Red Tape; Govt. Declares India As World’s Youngest Startup Nation
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has declared India as the world’s youngest startup nation. While re-confirming the Govt.’s vows and pledges for making a robust startup eco-system within India, the Minister said that with 4400 tech startups in India, we are just behind US and UK in terms of numbers.
However, as 72% entrepreneurs in India are below 35 years of age, India is world’s youngest startup nation.
As per the Minister, India would be home to 12,000 tech startups by the end of 2020.
She said: “Government is committed to make Start-up India initiative a scalable reality and to provide an environment for our start-ups to thrive in. Through the initiative, we want to ensure that the momentum is accelerated. We are determined to make it a start-up revolution,”
Red Tape Removed From IPR Claiming Process
In order to give a live proof of Government’s commitment towards making India a power-hub of innovation, and path-breaking startups, Ministry of Commerce and Industry has abolished tough, strict rules pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in India.
In a revolutionary decision, Indian entrepreneurs would now only need a certificate of recognition from the Govt. in order to claim IPR benefits.
This ‘recognition’ can be obtained from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), as opposed to massive paperwork and approval from an inter-ministerial board which was the norm till date.
These announcements were made by Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while speaking at a startup conference in New Delhi last week.
She assured all entrepreneurs, investors and analysts of the industry that Govt. will soon announce a new tax structure, which would be reformed, and streamlined for benefiting everyone. However, she asked for accountability.
She said, “Accountability and transparency warrants that if tax breaks have to be given, in cases when the government defers, postpones or foregoes, we have to have some kind of accountability system”
She also said that National Expert Advisory Committee formed by the Human Resource Development Ministry has proposed 7 unique proposals for research parks, 16 proposals for opening new Technology Business Incubators, and 13 proposals for startup-centres, which would be implemented this financial year.
The new rules pertaining to IPR is in line with India’s first Intellectual Property Rights Policy which was introduced in the month of May this year. One of the 7 core objectives of this new policy was to simplify the regulations pertaining to IPR claims within India.
