Context: Recently, the Prime Minister has decided to interact with startups and address ‘Prarambh: Startup India International Summit’ on 15-16th January 2021.

• The Summit is being organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Background

• The Summit marks the fifth anniversary of the Startup India initiative, launched by the Prime Minister on 16 January 2016.
• The two-day Summit is also being organised as a follow up of the announcement made by the Prime Minister at the fourth BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu in August 2018.
• BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. It was established through the Bangkok Declaration in 1997. 
• It will focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation and engagement with countries from around the globe to collectively develop and strengthen the startup ecosystems

About Prarambh: Startup India International Summit

• The Summit is being organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• The sessions of the Summit are designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship based on innovation in India.
• The first day of the Summit has been devoted to host dignitaries and stakeholders from BIMSTEC member States.

Significance of Prarambh Summit

• Prarambh is expected to bring together top policy makers, industry, academia, investors, startups and all stakeholders from across the globe.
• The idea is to attain attention of global capital for startups in India, mobilize domestic capital, provide opportunities for accessing international markets to our startups and evolve enabling policy provisions.

Objectives of Prarambh Summit

• Encouraging and inspiring the youth for innovation and entrepreneurship
• Exchange knowledge on best practices on nurturing startup ecosystems
• Develop capacities of entrepreneurial ecosystemMobilize global and domestic capital for investments into startups
• Provide opportunities to startups for entering domestic (private and public) and international markets
• Showcasing high-quality, high technology and frugal innovations from India
• Enable ease of doing business for startups and investors.

Start-Ups In India

• A startup is an entity, incorporated or registered in India for less than 7 years.
• Its annual turnover should be less than 25 crores in any preceding financial year.
• It should be working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property.

Challenges

• Corruption and Red-tapism: Presence of bureaucratic red tape and the corruption which goes into the set-up process.
• Lack of Adequate Incentives: The reports of over-regulation have impeded the growth of start-ups and there are relatively fewer provisions of adequate incentives.
• Lack of Investment: While more famous start-ups have seen multiple rounds of investment, other lesser-known start-ups have shrivelled due to lack of investment and capital.
• Bias Towards Foreign Products: Inherent bias in the consumer mindset in favour of services and products offered by foreign technology giants, which translates to lesser acceptance and lesser opportunities for the start-ups in India.

Initiatives for Promoting Startups

• Atmanirbhar Bharat: Digital India Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.
• Make in India: Promotion to indigenously made goods and services under the initiative.
• Start-Up India Programme: A flagship initiative, intended to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
• Start-up India Digital Platform: It is the world’s largest virtual incubator with over 300,000 registered start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs.
• Start-up Grand Challenge: It channelizes the entrepreneurial capacity between Indian and Korean start-ups to work together and build solutions for the challenges facing the world.
• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM): Launched by NITI Aayog as a flagship programme, it aims to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India.
• Some initiatives of AIM are AIM iCREST and Mentors of Change.
• Project Chunauti: It is a start-up challenge under the Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) initiative. Selected startups are provided human resources, legal, intellectual property rights (IPR) and Patent matters guidance as well as other incubation and mentorship facilities.
• National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI): It is an umbrella programme for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful startups.