‘Startup India’ fails in JK

Srinagar, Mar 16: Launched to generate large scale employment, the government of India’s ‘Startup India’ scheme has failed to attract Kashmir youth as only a meagre number of them opted for the programme.
‘Startup India’, a flagship initiative by the Centre was started in January 2016, with a vision to “transform India into a job creator country”.
However, in Jammu and Kashmir, only 71 recognised start-ups have come up during the last three years, which is very little when compared to the majority of the north-Indian states.
As per data, 103 applications have been received by Industry and Commerce department of the state since the inception of the scheme.
Of them, nearly 71 were approved after due verification by the concerned department, with the majority of them opting for setting up outlets related to hospitality and information technology sectors.
The number is far less than the number of start-ups in states including Maharashtra and New Delhi, where 2,973 and 2,094 are recognized, respectively during the period.
As per sources, the lack of infrastructure coupled with the new taxation regime in the state has mostly led to the less acceptance of the scheme in the region.
“It requires proper infrastructure like setting up of centres from where the ideas are heard by the experts and executed. There was a proposal for setting up of these centres, which is yet to come and all the affairs are being managed by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute only,” sources said.
They added that lack of other facilities including the patchy flow of electricity and frequent internet shutdowns further dishearten financers to invest in new ideas.
President Federation Chamber of Commerce Kashmir (FCIK), Muhammad Ashraf Mir, believed that valleyites lacked investment sentiments due to the conflict.
“The current circumstances in the valley are not favourable for business or new start-ups. We witness shutdowns for a major part of the year due to which businesses mostly report losses. Under these conditions, no one will get ready to take a risk of setting up a new business,” he said.
The J&K government last year released its Startup Policy 2018, under which any unit will be considered as a start-up if it is incorporated and registered within seven years and its turnover for any fiscal year since incorporation or registration has not exceeded Rs 25 crore.