Maharashtra clears Rs5,000 crore investment in start-up sector

Mumbai: The Maharashtra state cabinet on Wednesday approved a Maharashtra State Innovation and Start-Up Policy, targeting an investment of Rs5,000 crore in the start-up space by 2022 and creating 500,000 direct and indirect jobs. The policy aims to help establish 10,000 start-ups in five years. 

An industry department official said the policy targets setting of at least 15 incubation centres for start-ups in the state. “Eventually, we plan to scale it up to around 35 incubation centres, which in effect means one for each district,” the official said, requesting anonymity. He said the policy aims to develop an enabling ecosystem for the start-up industry.

“Maharashtra’s strong credentials as the leading industrialized state, especially the service industry and manufacturing, and availability of skilled human resource will complement the start-up ecosystem,” he said. The incubation centres will facilitate setting up, incorporation, and operations of the start-ups, the official added. “We aim to develop at least 10 lakh sq. ft of incubation space in the state over a period of five years,” he said. The policy has identified 12 sectors to establish incubators and each sector will have at least three incubators.

“The incubators will be developed via public-private partnership with the industry and the educational institutions.” 

Apart from encouraging financial institutions to lend to start-ups, the state government will also stand guarantee for a part of the loans issued to the start-up units. The policy provides for government facilitation in incentivizing private equity funds to support the start-up sector. “Apart from setting aside approximately Rs2,500 crore in the state budget to support entrepreneurship especially in the start-up space, the government will also facilitate venture capital funding of minimum Rs2,500 crore for start-up units,” said an official associated with the policy formation.