Gujarat announces IT policy to promote new ventures

The Gujarat government today announced its first ever 'IT and Electronics Start-up Policy', having special focus on encouraging new ventures by providing them various incentives and subsidies.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced the policy, which will be applicable only to IT and electronics related start-ups.
"Under the policy, the state government would develop 50 incubators to mentor and guide 2,000 start-ups in the next five years", Patel told reporters.
"Our aim is to attract an investment of Rs 7,000 crore through this policy for start-ups. The Gujarat government will allot around 10 lakh sq feet of land for development of 50 incubators, which will provide guidance to budding innovators in setting up their start-up units," she said.

Under the policy, the Gujarat government will provide 50 per cent capital investment assistance, in the limit of Rs 50 lakh, for setting up an incubator.
As per the policy, they (incubators) will be entitled to get Rs 5 lakh each year as mentoring assistance and the state government will also give Rs 1 crore as assistance for the procurement of software to these incubators.

Under the policy, these incubators and new start-ups will get 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty and registration fees.
Other incentives for start-ups include interest subsidy of 9 per cent per annum in the limit of Rs 2 lakh per year, marketing assistance of Rs 1 lakh per start-up, product development assistance of Rs 1 lakh and lease rental subsidy of Rs 15 per sq feet per month.

To register their patents, government will give Rs 2 lakh as assistance for domestic registration and Rs 5 lakh for international patent registration.
"For better results, we will involve industries as well as education institutes under this policy. During August, we will organise a workshop to spread awareness about this policy. We will also invite experts to evaluate the viability of new start-ups," the Chief Minister said.