Meghalaya Startup Policy 2018 To Develop 500 Startups Gets Cabinet Nod

In its first meeting after taking charge, Meghalaya cabinet has approved 25 policies on Monday (June 10), one of which is the state’s startup policy. The Meghalaya Startup Policy 2018 aims to help budding entrepreneurs and create employment opportunities.

The vision of the state with the startup policy is to “emerge as one of the leading “Startup Hubs” in India by 2023 through strategic partnerships, conducive ecosystem, investment and policy interventions.”

Introduced in August 2018, the policy is expected to act as a catalyst in the economic growth of the state, creating models for scalability and replicability across the state resulting in large-scale employment opportunities.

Meghalaya State Policy 2018 Highlights

Here are a few key points discussed in the Meghalaya State Policy 2018:

• The state government will develop a startup portal and app which will aggregate all information related to the policy, its benefits and the procedure to avail them
• The government of Meghalaya proposed to develop quality infrastructure across the state with all necessary facilities made available for entrepreneurs
• Approved institutions will be eligible for a one-time grant of 75 % of capital cost (cost of building, equipment, connectivity etc.) up to a maximum of INR 5 Cr to set up an incubator
• These approved institutions shall be eligible for a performance capital grant of INR 5 lakh for each successful startup that they incubate for a minimum period of three months
• The approved industry groups/houses shall be eligible for a performance capital grant of INR 5 lakh for each successful startup that they create
• The government would put effort to establish one or more startup/innovation park in the state as a one-stop destination for startups, either on its own or in partnership with the private sector
• State government proposed to establish an innovation fund to foster research in information & communication technology, energy, tourism etc. in the state institutions
• Startups shall be eligible for reimbursement of lease rental @ 50% for a period of 3 years subject to a ceiling of INR 2 lakh per year per startup
• At least 20% of the procurement by state government departments and PSUs shall be through startups
• Create an enabling environment and ecosystem for at least 500 startups in the next five years

According to the latest statistics available with Startup India, 24 Indian states have introduced a startup policy which includes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka among others. Individual states have also been strengthening their startup ecosystem through incubators to boost their positions in the DPIIT’s state startup ranking framework for 2019, which investors look at closely when seeking startups to invest in.