Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $150 million impact fund for health, agriculture and renewable energy in India called Bharat during a visit to California. Bureaucrats accompanying Modi proposed launching a startup mission by December and reducing compliance requirements for new businesses. They also want the government to avoid taxes and interactions for startups for at least 5 years. Modi seemed committed to removing obstacles for the startup ecosystem and several proposals around bankruptcy laws, taxes and permanent establishment rules were discussed to encourage investment and keep startups in India.

1. $150 MILLION FOR BHARAT
IMPACT FUND

2. Contd..
On a two day visit to the state of California, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced a $150 million impact fund dedicated to health, agriculture and
renewable energy sector, christened Bharat, along with promising investors a
speedy resolution of issues with respect to investing in India. Bureaucrats
accompanying Modi are also said to have made several key proposals which
includes launch of the startup mission by early December and reduce compliance
for new business till they reach a certain threshold.As a resolution to the capital
gains tax issue, which is levied on profits made by early stage investors when they
exit a company , reinvesting the profits could be made free of taxes.
According to people who were present during the closed door meeting between
bureaucrats and a handful of American investors of Indian origin along with
representatives of Nasscom, the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), it was mentioned that
New Delhi is pushing for startups to have no interaction with the government -
including no tax filing -for at least 5 years or until they reach a certain revenue
turnover.

3. Contd..
“They want the government to get out and make it easy for startups to get started and
avoid taxes,“ said one of the officials privy to the development.
Amitabh Kant, secretary , department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), K
VijayRaghavan, secretary of department of Biotechnology , and Hemang Jani, officer of
special duty in the Prime Minister's Office were present during the meeting. DIPP has been
given the mandate of the Start-up mission which was announced by Modi in August. Kant
is said to have told the gathering that the mission will be formally launched in December
and has invited startup champions in the Valley for its inauguration.
He is also learnt to have said that the definition of a startup has been finalised and will be
shared with the community for comments. There was a lot of discussion on the issue of
capital gains tax, which has been long pending issue with the investor community . While
the investors asked the government to consider making it zero capital gains for 10-20 years
to encourage rein vesting, the discussion indicated that capital gains could be avoided by
reinvesting the profits within a notified period of time.

4. Contd..
Venkatesh Shukla. President of TiE Silicon Valley said that Modi was quite
emphatic towards the ecosystem and was looking for recommendations and
guidance on how to make it happen. “He seemed committed to remove
cobwebs and obstacles in the way of the start-up ecosystem... we had a long
conversation about bankruptcy law, making taxes less onerous etc., but
conceptual agreement needs to be translated into specific action items,“
Shukla who was present during the meeting told ET over the phone.
Among a host of other measures, Kant also mentioned that the Bankruptcy
law is being worked on by the Vishwanath committee and will be ready for
comments in 2 weeks.Removal or relaxation of permanent establishment
requirements could be one way to address the is sues with venture capital
and the government has solicited the help of the industry to find a solution
to fix this issue in the Companies Act.

5. Contd..
Sudhir Sethi, managing partner, IDG Ventures and head of the iSPIRT list-in-India
policy expert team said all the focus on startups by the government is moot if
successful tech startups don't stay in India. “The number of funded tech startups
redomiciling from India to Singapore or US has grown from 54% in 2014 to 75% this
year. This exodus is a crisis that needs urgent attention,“ he added.
Though they did not make any specific announcement, the proposals are a lot more
reassuring that before, said the first official quoted above.
Nearly 40 startups from India and tech luminaries like LinkedIn's cofounder Reid
Hoffman attended the Startup Konnect event organized by India's IT lobby Nasscom
and TiE in San Jose. While launching the Bharat fund, Modi said, “I am honoured to
launch the BHARAT Fund today which stands not just for India, but also for Better
Health, Agriculture, Renewable and Technologies.“ A day ago, Chip maker
Qualcomm Incorporated announced a $150 million fund to invest in Indian
startups.

6. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015