Central and state governments should look at ease of doing business to create a vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurship, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys, said. He also hoped that the Rs.10,000 crore allocated by central government for start-ups take the shape of grants, which could act as initial capital for new businesses.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan, Immediate Past President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, was talking about the role various stakeholders need to take to set up robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in India at the CII Startupreneurs event in Chennai.
“There is role for state to play and centre to play. Why does an approval take 30-45 days? Why a business need to go through so many approvals. Every government I talk to have a single-window scheme, but none of them work in reality on the ground. Entrepreneur is made to run out and get multiple approvals. It should be done online and probably on mobile phones within 48 hours,” he said.
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He also noted that government should provide grants, especially for women and rural entrepreneurs, so that initial funding came as grants and later they could look at seed or angel funding.
“Central government has allocated Rs.10,000 crore for start-ups. I hope it is converted into grants, and we can create 10 lakh or 1 million new businesses through this grant,” Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.
He also called for a national innovation and entrepreneurship policy.
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