The Startup India portal has received 728 applications till date, out of which 180 applications are complete and have been recognised as startups by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

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However, only 16 applicants are incorporated after April 1, 2016 and are eligible for consideration for tax benefits, as per the Finance Act 2016. Further more, three applications were considered and one has been recommended for tax benefits in the 2nd Inter Ministerial Board meeting held on June 28, 2016. The applications for tax benefits are examined by the Inter-Ministerial Board

Earlier, it was reported as many as 571 budding entrepreneurs have filed applications as on June 24 with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for recognition as innovative startups to avail tax breaks and other benefits.Out of these, only 12 are eligible for consideration by the inter-ministerial board for tax benefits, Startup India tweeted. Startup India is an initiative of the DIPP.

Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman in a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday said, “To increase the coverage of Startups in the country under the Startup India Action Plan the following steps have been taken.”

1. Startup India Hub: Startup India Hub has been set up to resolve queries and provide handholding support to Startups. To seek clarifications pertaining to Certificate of Recognition as a “Startup”, Certificate of Eligibility to avail tax benefits, information on incubators or funding, one can get in touch with the Hub on Toll-Free number: 1800115565or email: id dipp-startups@nic.in. Dedicated professionals are handling over 200 queries per day. DIPP has requested State governments and administration of Union Territories to set up hub as well as incubators to help Startups during various stages of their life cycle.

2. Startup Recognition: Till date (18.7.2016), 728 applications have been received for Startup Recognition. Out of them, 180 applications are complete and are recognised as a startup by DIPP. For remaining applications, Startup India Hub provides handholding support to facilitate recognition of more and more Startups.

3. Chief Secretaries of all States and Administrators of all Union Territories have been requested to partner with DIPP in taking the Startup India initiative forward.

4. Top 50 companies in India have been requested to contribute towards strengthening the incubation facilities in the country through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives;

5. List of recognized incubators has been augmented to provide more avenues to Startups to obtain mentoring support. 20 industry bodies and organisations have been recognized by DIPP who will assess the innovative nature of Startups and provide certificates to enable them to get recognition from DIPP.

6. For incubators to get recognition by Government of India a module to recognize incubators has been launched. This will allow them to issue recommendation letters to Startups.

7. A panel of facilitators has been constituted to assist Startups file Intellectual Property applications. DIPP has decided to bear the facilitation cost on behalf of Startups. To avail this benefit, the certificate of eligibility from the Inter-Ministerial Board was required which has been dispensed with. Now a certificate of recognition is sufficient to avail this benefit.