Govt to invest Rs 200 crore on scaling up existing incubators

New Delhi: Government will identify 10 incubators out of existing 200 such centres and invest Rs 200 crore on scaling up their capacity, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Saturday said.

"There are 200 existing incubation centres. We will scale up 10 best incubation by 10x. We have received 120 applications for the same. We will select 10 and to each incubator we will produce Rs 20 crore," Kant said at Startup India state's conference.

He said the government will invest Rs 20 lakh to support existing tinkering labs.

"We are going to set up 100 new incubation centres this year. We have received 3,000 applications for it," Kant said.

He said the government is soon going to start a contest to find out solution for problems in India.

"Can we do a flyover, which takes 4-5 years, in 30 days and to my mind it is possible," Kant said.

He said that challenge will include developing solution for farming to help farmer decide which seed should be sown in a particular season depending on soil and weather condition to get maximum output.

The government will look at finding solution for sewage problem and solving water crisis as part of the contest, he said.

"Grand challenge will be launched shortly. There is huge opportunity," Kant said. 

Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Ramesh Abhishek urged all the states to set up incubators and start-up hubs to promote budding entrepreneurs.

The demand was made during the day-long function on start-ups here today.

Besides the states, start-ups, investors, incubators and various ministries and departments of government related to start-ups were part of separate panel discussions on various facets, like funding and incubation, of the 'Startup India' initiative and the startup ecosystem as a whole.

While the start-ups shared their growth stories and expectations from the government, the investors deliberated on access of funds in different stages of the startup life-cycle.

The ministry said that 13,500 applications for setting up of new tinkering labs in schools have been received by Niti Aayog while the target was only 500.

Similarly, for a target of setting up of 100 new incubators, 3,300 applications were received.

Earlier in the day, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government needs to balance the reforms with accountability.

She stressed that startups need to only focus on their ideas and not worry about compliances under various acts.

The aim of the conference was to serve as a platform for all states to discuss the progress, policies and good practices they have made on the 'Startup India' initiative.

State governments of Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka presented the initiatives undertaken by them to promote start-ups.