Startup Manipur

The Government of Manipur has launched the ‘Startup Manipur’ initiative to promote sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities in the state of Manipur. Under Manipur Startup Policy 2018, various incubation centres were set up by the state government to promote the growth of at least 1,000 innovates technology-based startups throughout the state. In this article, we look at the “Startup Manipur” in detail.

Objectives

The objectives of the Startup Manipur are listed below:

To establish the start-up culture in the state by promoting social acceptance and recognition of start-ups, through policy interventions, strategic investment and such other programmes.
To strengthen and support existing business incubators and accelerators in the State.
To encourage the youth of Manipur to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice by including appropriate learning modules, organising entrepreneurship development programs in institutions, and promoting outreach programs, e-cells, interactions with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship development centres across vocational institutions in the state.
To promote setting up of new business incubators in partnership with the private sector.
To provide an enabling environment to start-ups, through skill development training, capacity building, networking, access to knowledge and service, etc.
To implement a framework that facilitates hassle-free and regulatory clearances for all start-ups.
To generate appropriate infrastructural support required to enable start-ups and grow rapidly.
To enable a platform for accessing multiple avenues that provide financial assistance in the form of grants, bank loans, fiscal incentives, etc. to start-ups in Manipur.
To develop an enabling environment and supporting eco-system that facilitates 1000 start-ups in the next five years.

Components of the Scheme

There are four components of the scheme are as follows:

Enabling Environment

All enterprise depends upon the social, political and economic conditions of the state. Keeping this in view, an enabling environment has to be created that helps entrepreneurs to expand their business activities. Also, this helps in facilitating new partnerships with professional and vocational institutions of state to reach out with improved accessibility for new startups.

Pre-idea Stage – Network of Entrepreneurship Development Centers (NEDC):

Under this pre-idea stage, the state government will cover the following activities:

To create a Network of Entrepreneurship Development Centers (NEDC) in universities and institutes of Manipur.
To facilitate the NEDC partner institution to incentivise entrepreneurship.
To promote capacity building of NEDC partner institution through collaboration with leading business incubators in the state.
To submit a performance report to the state government for extending support of the Government.

Idea Stage- Business Idea Incubation

The below following are the steps carried out by the state government for the incubation of the entrepreneurs.

To recognise the importance of business incubation for economic development and job creation for the younger generation.
To assist in creating business incubators in the state and to enable them to incubate various startups.
To facilitate setting up of new incubators in public an private sectors and also it will facilitate in setting up of incubation centres in institutions of advanced learning and other leading establishments of the Government.

Product Development Stage

This stage involves the development of a product or prototype. Under this stage, the following are the points that will be carried out:

The state government will facilitate access to Research and Development labs and resources.
Access to technology for the startup will be facilitated by the partner institution to guide during this stage.
To facilitate the creation of a state-wide mentor and expert network for startups. The startups will be able to access state-wide mentor and expert network throughout the stage of the startup.
The Innovation Enabler Mechanism (IEM) will assist startups by getting regulatory support in the form of enabling legislation from the Government on a fast track mode.

Commercialisation Stage

Access to a network of registered venture capital funds.
Providing investors to select the project from the database that they would be interested in funding.
The digital platform will connect all the eco-system stakeholders, network of support, funding and service providers to enable seamless access.

Policy Period

The operational period of the Manipur start-up scheme is for five years. The scheme commences from 1st January 2018 and ceases on 31st December 2021.

Support and Funding for the Startup

The assistance provided under the Startup Manipur are listed below:

Student Startup

Eligibility Criteria for Assistance

Any student who is undergoing Under Graduate/Post- Graduate/ Master courses is eligible to avail assistance under this startup policy. Benefits Details Weekend Mentorship Program will be designed for the students and also seed funding support and other services will be provided. Funding Range The State Government will provide subsidy up to 25% of the total cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 5 lakhs.

Women Startup

Eligibility Criteria Any women entrepreneur is eligible to apply for this startup scheme. Benefits Details Mentorship, Incubation, legal support and funding for the startup will be granted. Funding Range The State Government will provide subsidy up to 25% of the total cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 10 lakhs.

Idea Stage Startup

Eligibility Criteria Any individual with the business idea but need the help of converting the idea into the profitable business. Benefits Details Mentorship, Incubation, legal support and funding for the startup will be granted. Funding Range The State Government will provide subsidy up to 25% of the total cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 20 lakhs.

Revenue Stage Startup

Eligibility Criteria Any entrepreneur who has an innovative product which generates revenue but in need of funding to scale-up can apply for the scheme. Benefits Details Mentorship, Incubation, legal support and funding for the startup will be granted. Funding Range The subsidy amount ranging from Rs. 20 lakhs to Rs. 30 crores will be provided as decided by the investor network, lending bank, etc.

Selection Process

The applicant has to fill the application form and submit it through the official portal. The committee will do the first level of screening. The selected startup will have to present their ideas in front of a panel in the Manipur startup event to be telecasted on the local TV channels. A jury of panels consisting of State representative, MEN, EDC will select the eligible startup based on their pitch, business plan, scalability, feasibility and budget.

Startup Manipur - Objectives & Funding