Puducherry

OVERVIEW

Policy Name	Aspring Puducherry - Innovations & Startup Policy 2019-2024
Policy Document	Download Here
Nodal Agency	Department of Industries and Commerce, Puducherry
Office Address	Industrial Estate, Huzuga Theatre, Thattanchavady, Puducherry - 605009
Contact Details	Contact Number: 0413 224 8168

Incentives

1 Atal Innovation Mission

The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to take all effective steps to promote and encourage the Academic/R & D Institutes and others like Technology/Industrial Parks or Companies as well as individuals or a group of individuals to establish incubation centres under the Atal Innovation Mission of the NITI Ayog.

2 Atal Incubation Centres

The Atal incubation centres would support and encourage startups in specific subjects/sectors such as manufacturing, transport, energy, health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation etc., and would provide them with necessary infrastructure facilities and other value added services.

3 Private Sector Incubators

The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to encourage establishment of Private sector incubators preferably in engineering institutions and would coordinate and assist them in getting the support from central and state government departments/agencies. Such Private sector incubators shall be managed and operated by the private sector.

4 Atal Tinkering Laboratories

In order to create scientific temper and cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation among young minds, the Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to encourage and support establishment of Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
One Tool Room and Technology Development Centre (Technology Centre) is being established by Ministry of MSME at the request of this administration at Kalapet in the Pondicherry Engineering College Campus, which will also be an Incubation Centre. The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to promote establishment of Technology Business Incubators in renowned Institutions.

5 Incubation Centres

Eligibility Criteria

Incubation centers, Universities/Educational Institutions, R & D Institutions, Private and other establishments will be eligible as an institution to provide support and mentor to Startups as approved by the Council.

Incubator

All the incubators established would be networked and well connected to facilitate exchange of thoughts, ideas and collaboration across educational institutions and diverse disciplines. Identified Incubators shall be encouraged to operate as accelerators.

1 Webportal and App

Type of Benefit	Non-Fiscal
Benefit Details	The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to host acommon startup portal and a mobile application to serve as the single platform for Startups for interacting with Incubators, Industrial bodies, academic institutions, Government and Regulatory Institutions for all business needs and information exchange among various stakeholders’ for effective implementation and interaction in the startup ecosystem.
Eligibility Criteria	An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :- if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India; up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration; if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees; an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation; if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

Type of Benefit

Non-Fiscal

Benefit Details

The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall endeavor to host acommon startup portal and a mobile application to serve as the single platform for Startups for interacting with Incubators, Industrial bodies, academic institutions, Government and Regulatory Institutions for all business needs and information exchange among various stakeholders’ for effective implementation and interaction in the startup ecosystem.

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

2 Self Certification

Type of Benefit	Non-Fiscal
Benefit Details	To reduce the regulatory burden on Startups thereby allowing them to focus on their core business and keep compliance cost low, the recognized Startups signed with recognized incubators/accelerators shall be allowed to self-certify compliance in respect of the following six labour and three environment laws (stipulated by the Central/Government of Puducherry, from time to time).
Eligibility Criteria	An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :- if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India; up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration; if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees; an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation; if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

Type of Benefit

Non-Fiscal

Benefit Details

To reduce the regulatory burden on Startups thereby allowing them to focus on their core business and keep compliance cost low, the recognized Startups signed with recognized incubators/accelerators shall be allowed to self-certify compliance in respect of the following six labour and three environment laws (stipulated by the Central/Government of Puducherry, from time to time).

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

3 Intellectual Property Rights

Type of Benefit	Non-Fiscal
Benefit Details	The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall facilitate filing of Patents, Trademarks and Designs by innovative recognized Startups. The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall :- fast-track Startup patent applications for examination and disposal, so that they can realize the value of their IPRs at the earliest possible. be responsible for providing general advisory on different IPRs as also information on protecting and promoting IPRs.
Eligibility Criteria	An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :- if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India; up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration; if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees; an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation; if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

Type of Benefit

Non-Fiscal

Benefit Details

The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall facilitate filing of Patents, Trademarks and Designs by innovative recognized Startups. The Puducherry Startup Cell (PSC) shall :-

fast-track Startup patent applications for examination and disposal, so that they can realize the value of their IPRs at the earliest possible.
be responsible for providing general advisory on different IPRs as also information on protecting and promoting IPRs.

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

4 Funding Support

Type of Benefit	Fiscal
Benefit Details	A corpus fund of 10 crores shall be created with the name ‘Puducherry Startup Fund’ to support establishment of Startup Incubators. The fund will also be utilized to develop Co-Working Spaces. The Corpus fund will attract funding from private industrial CSR funding and any other sources and resources as approved by the Startup Council Financial grant upto 3 lakhs shall be provided to the projects recommended by the incubators established by the Government/Private Sector/Academic Institutions as a Startup grant. The Committee of experts duly constituted by the Government under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Committee (IEDC) will approve the projects and monitor their progress from time to time Monthly allowance of ` 10,000 shall be granted to per person upto a maximum of 5 persons. If the founder or Co-founder of the Startup happens to be Women/SC/PH/Transgender, monthly allowance of 15,000 shall be granted Marketing assistance shall be given by the Startup Cell with the approval of IEDC for the recognized Startups operating in the Union Territory of Puducherry at Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage Corpus fund will be utilized to provide Infrastructure support like Workstation, Cloud Services, Laboratory facilities, testing, marketing facility as required by the Startups shall be given based on the recommendation of Incubators
Eligibility Criteria	An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :- if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India; up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration; if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees; an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation; if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

Type of Benefit

Fiscal

Benefit Details

A corpus fund of 10 crores shall be created with the name ‘Puducherry Startup Fund’ to support establishment of Startup Incubators. The fund will also be utilized to develop Co-Working Spaces. The Corpus fund will attract funding from private industrial CSR funding and any other sources and resources as approved by the Startup Council

Financial grant upto 3 lakhs shall be provided to the projects recommended by the incubators established by the Government/Private Sector/Academic Institutions as a Startup grant. The Committee of experts duly constituted by the Government under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Committee (IEDC) will approve the projects and monitor their progress from time to time
Monthly allowance of ` 10,000 shall be granted to per person upto a maximum of 5 persons. If the founder or Co-founder of the Startup happens to be Women/SC/PH/Transgender, monthly allowance of 15,000 shall be granted
Marketing assistance shall be given by the Startup Cell with the approval of IEDC for the recognized Startups operating in the Union Territory of Puducherry at Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage
Corpus fund will be utilized to provide Infrastructure support like Workstation, Cloud Services, Laboratory facilities, testing, marketing facility as required by the Startups shall be given based on the recommendation of Incubators

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

5 Incentives

Benefit Details

Fiscal Incentives

All the incentives applicable in the Industrial Policy, 2016 shall be applicable to the Startups
The Startups can claim incentives of State Government, Government of India and Government of India Agencies. The Startup Cell shall assist the Startups in claiming incentives. However, the quantum of incentives for a particular component under the Government of India and Government of Puducherry schemes together shall be limited to 75% of the capex of that particular component

Non-Fiscal Incentives

A cloud server with necessary software shall be facilitated to connect all incubators across the state. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software shall be made available to all incubators for free to use by the Startups
Recognized Startups shall have free access to Universities/Government libraries, Government laboratories through the incubators

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

6 Public Procurement for Startups

Type of Benefit	Non-Fiscal
Benefit Details	Norms shall be made for Public entities for procurement from Startups. Exemptions to Startups shall be made in criteria such as prior experience, turnover, security deposits etc. However no exemption shall be made in quality, technical specifications and standards.
Eligibility Criteria	An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :- if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India; up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration; if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees; an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation; if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

Type of Benefit

Non-Fiscal

Benefit Details

Norms shall be made for Public entities for procurement from Startups. Exemptions to Startups shall be made in criteria such as prior experience, turnover, security deposits etc. However no exemption shall be made in quality, technical specifications and standards.

Eligibility Criteria

An entity shall be considered as a ‘Startup’ :-

if it is incorporated as a private limited company (as defined in the Companies Act, 2013) or registered as a partnership firm (registered under section 59 of the Partnership Act, 1932) or a limited liability partnership (under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008) in India;
up to a period of ten years from the date of its incorporation/ registration;
if its turnover of the entity for any of the financial years since incorporation/registration has not exceeded one hundred crore rupees;
an entity or any individual or group of individuals are working towards innovative ideas or concept, development or improvement of new products or process or services driven by technology or intellectual property or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation;
if it meets the definition of Startup as prescribed by the Government of India, from time to time; and

Provided that an entity formed by splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business shall not be considered a ‘Startup’

1 Support for Students

Eligibility

Students of colleges and educational institutions in the Union Territory of Puducherry are eligible.

Student/Student teams who avail incubation support from the education institutions shall be given 5% marks for their startup ideas/attempt and 20% attendance every semester subject to certification from the incubators
Students of such recognized institutions shall also be encouraged to develop their mini-projects or internships or summer projects during their vacations. Students shall be permitted to convert such innovative projects that are incubated through the incubators of their educational institutions into final year project towards for degree completion
Competitions and Grand Challenges shall be encouraged to be organized to exhibit innovative products from various incubators/educational institutions/schools etc. Prize money and a citation shall be awarded to the winners selected by a committee
Awareness camps shall be conducted to inculcate innovation ideas at College and School Level by organizing various awareness camps such as boot camps, showcasing of exhibits etc., by the Startup Cell/Incubators/Institutions. Selected startups of students from colleges and schools shall be encouraged to reach international startup destinations for exposure and for utilizing the benefit available at those startup destinations

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