IIM-Calcutta to Boost Start-Up Environment

GUWAHATI, Sept 13: A discussion on the Start-Up Policy and the role of educational institutions was held under the aegis of Industries and Commerce Department at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara today. The meeting aimed to strengthen the start-up movement in Assam and to further facilitate the upcoming start-ups in the state. This has been stated in a government communiqué.

Addressing the meeting, Ravi Capoor, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department, said that the Assam Government has recently launched the Start-Up Policy and will soon inaugurate the Start-Up Incubation Centre named, Assam Hub at Ambari, which will facilitate in translating new innovative ideas into reality. ‘Assam Hub will be an ignition of the start-up movement in Assam by way of providing office space, support services and other amenities’, said Ravi Capoor. The Department also signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta Innovation Park, in connection with the running of operation and maintenance of start-up of the Incubation Centre.

The Department intends to tie-up with educational institutions to form a pool which will become a reference point for the upcoming start-ups. The institutions will also scrutinize the proposals, as per the parameters laid by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), and give feedback to the Department.

He added that the Government will provide a grant upto Rs. 50 lakh per start-up, which will include Rs. 5 lakh for idea to proof of concept, and the rest of the grant will be utilized towards purchase of raw materials, marketing and cost of commercialization of products and services of start-ups.

Ravi Capoor further stated that the Department will soon launch Start-Up Yatra – an awareness campaign in colleges of various districts to create a start-up ecosystem in the state and generate an entrepreneurial mind-set among the students. ‘The start-ups of Assam should be inclusive where the youths can leverage the strengths of the state and provide solutions within the society’, added Capoor.