Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with young innovators and start-up entrepreneurs from across the country, through video bridge.

This is the fourth interaction by the Prime Minister through video bridge series with various beneficiaries of Government schemes.

Delighted at India’s youngsters becoming job creators, Prime Minister said that the Government is committed towards harnessing the demographic dividend.

Modi further said that adequate capital, courage and connecting with people are required for excelling in the start- up sector.

The Prime Minister said that things have changed from the time where start-ups meant only digital and technology innovation. 

He said that now there are start-up entrepreneurs in many fields. Start-Ups are filed in 28 States, 6 Union Territories and 419 districts.

Out of these, 44% of start-ups registered are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as Start-Up India is focussing on encouraging local innovations from their areas. In addition, 45% of the start-up are set up by women.

Modi also explained how filing patents and trademarks have become easy under the government.

Government has brought down the number of forms needed to apply for trademark from seventy-four to eight, resulting in three-fold increase in Trade Marks registration in three years. Number of patents registered has also seen a three-fold increase compared to the previous government, he said.

During the interaction with young entrepreneurs, the Prime Minister said that the government has created Rs.10000 Crore ‘Fund of Funds’ to ensure that young entrepreneurs may not face shortage of funds for their start-ups and to facilitate youngsters to innovate.  

Through the ‘Fund of Funds’, Rs.1285 Crore funding has been committed, leveraging a total of Rs.6980 Crore in venture funds so far.

Explaining the steps taken by the government to make India’s start-up ecosystem robust, Prime Minister said that the Government-e– Market Place (GEM) has been linked to Start-Up India portal so that start-ups can sell their products to government.

Start-Ups have been given income tax exemption for three years. Six labour laws and three environmental laws have been changed so that young entrepreneurs need to provide only self-certification, he said.

Government has also started a one-stop digital platform called Start-Up India Hub where all information regarding start-ups and its ecosystem is available for entrepreneurs.

Interacting with the participants, Modi said that in order to foster innovation and competition amongst youngsters, Government has started various competitions like Atal New India Challenge, Smart India Hackathon and Agriculture Grand Challenge.

He also mentioned his discussion with Prime Minister of Singapore, on holding a Smart India Hackathon like challenge between innovators from Singapore and India.

Modi also reiterated the Governments’ commitment in encouraging innovation in India.