2016 January

Last time I had written “Different doors need to be opened. Simply widening the existing doorway will not do !“ This was with reference to the liberalisation for Start Ups. A fortnight later, on reviewing the Start Up Action Plan and watch ‘Seeing is believing’.

• Can you believe in less than 6 months from his 1st announcement for a Startup-friendly
regime, our PM actually did release a Startup India Action Plan ?

• Can you believe it is not a Policy seeped in bureaucratic legalese but a clear,
concrete Action Plan ?

• Can you believe it looks like a corporate hand book or brochure with sleek pictures
and easy-to-understand, uncluttered business English with a clear intent ?

• Can you believe it was available online simultaneous with its release offline ?

• Can you believe the Startup India, Standup India event had a tagline “WE UNOBSTACLE” –
yes Government believes it is an obstacle for entrepreneurs ?

• Can you believe the event was compered by none other than the Secretary of the DIPP
(Dept of Industrial Policy & Promotion) Mr. Amitabh Kant, a top ranking IAS officer ?

• Can you believe his introductions to each speaker was crisp, uplifting and business
like ?

• Can you believe during the day 15 Secretaries of various government departments were
actually grilled by the start up founders ?

• Can you believe there was table-thumping and whistling in an official government
launch programme ?

• Can you believe start up founders shared the dias with the PM and 2 of his important
ministers ?

• Can you believe there was no government protocol of long, boring speeches but short,
interesting, intense talks ?

You have to believe because all of us actually SAW all this happening !!

This is a commendable start to Startups which was followed by actual action. 1st evidence was easing the name approval process while incorporating a company. See the notifications we are carrying in this edition. However what I see missing is the zeal, enthusiasm and commitment of the grass root level government officials to actually supporting entrepreneurs. 1 day company registration app may be in place soon but at the local ROC office, it still takes more than 10 days for e-files to be processed. This requires a change in mind-set, a change in attitude. Hope this happens soon. Or else it will only remain an ACTION PLAN and not ACTION !