Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the new "Start-Up India" scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote and nurse entrepreneurship will ensure minimum interference from the government with attractive tax incentives.
"Start-Up India will change conventions. Government will merely be a facilitator for start-ups," he said at the inaugural session of the day-long event here which saw the prime minister formally unveil the scheme later in the evening.
"We ostensibly broke away from the license raj in 1991, conceived with idea that the government will decide which businesses can run," said Jaitley. "Our effort in last few years has been to restrict role of the state in policy domain," he said, assuring Start-Up India scheme will follow that path.
Later in the presence of Modi at the launch, Jaitley said the Start-Up India event inaugurates a change of mindset in the country.
"The state creates an ecosystem in which people can function. The only relation with the state entrepreneurs will have is to pay taxes at the end of the year, and continue to prosper themselves and make the country prosperous," he said.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister said he looked forward to the formal launch.
The event at the Vigyan Bhavan official conference complex has been a top draw.
"There is seating capacity of 1,350 (at Vigyan Bhavan). Over 200,000 people have sought passes. Please sympathise with us. There is live relay," Industries Secretary Amitabh Kant had tweeted ahead of the event.
