Rs.1,000 crore to be set aside for start-ups: Jaitley

Aiming to support start-up businesses and other self-employment activities, the government proposes to establish a Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) mechanism for which it will set aside Rs.1,000 crore initially in the NITI Aayog.

"The government is establishing a mechanism to be known as SETU. SETU will be a techno-financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start-up businesses and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. I am setting aside Rs.1,000 crore initially in NITI Aayog for this purpose," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha.

He said India has a well regarded and world-class IT industry with revenues of about $150 billion, over $100 billion of exports, and employing nearly 40 lakh people directly.

"We are now seeing a growing interest in start-ups. Experimenting in cutting edge technologies, creating value out of ideas and initiatives and converting them into scalable enterprises and businesses is at the core of our strategy for engaging our youth and for inclusive and sustainable growth of the country," Jaitley added.

"Concerns such as a more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities in our Centres of Excellence, funding for seed capital and growth, and ease of doing business etc. need to be addressed to create lakhs of jobs and hundreds of billion dollars in value," he said.

The minister said there was a need to encourage and grow the spirit of entrepreneurship in India and support new start-ups. "Only thus can our youth turn from being job-seekers to job-creators."