Youth entrepreneurship is the need of the hour because the country has a vast population of youth but not enough jobs to offer them, says M. Satish, Managing Director of Tech-Mark Pvt. Ltd, a Singapore-based software company.
Favourable factors
“Smooth-running bureaucracy, which sees inter-agency cooperation working seamlessly to help businesses grow, is a major boon in Singapore. Setting up a business there is easy due to the many favourable factors such as lower corporate tax rates, excellent infrastructure, stable government and first class living environment.”
Singapore is an opportunity, he says, adding in the same breath: “But an expensive one. It’s very hard for Indians to penetrate into their market, most of which is dominated by the Chinese who are very meticulous. They are low on emotions as far as business is concerned; for them, only numbers matter,” he cautions.
This first generation entrepreneur from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh set up a unit there in 2003. “It was not a smooth journey. But things started working when I started associating with Chinese companies,” he says.
Tax incentives
Speaking about the benefits, he refers to the pro-business tax incentives which help one cushion the initial setting up cost.
“The Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) scheme introduced by the Singapore Government in its 2010 budget lets enterprises enjoy up to 400 per cent tax deduction or allowances or get a 60 per cent cash payments when they invest in innovation, research and development, automation and training. Different government agencies there continuously provide several grant schemes to aid SMEs to use their technology and other resources.” Mr. Satish says he has plans to set up an institute in Andhra Pradesh to train entrepreneurs in partnership with various educational institutions across the State and working closely with the State government.
Start-up incubators
He said the existing climate in Andhra Pradesh is favourable for grooming entrepreneurs and informed that his company was is in the process of building development and marketing units in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam IT parks, which would play an active role in creating start-up incubators.
Smooth-running bureaucracy, which sees inter-agency cooperation working seamlessly to help businesses grow, is a major boon in Singapore. Setting up a business there is easy due to the many favourable factors such as lower corporate tax rates, excellent infrastructure, stable government and first class living environment
M. Satish
Managing Director, Tech-Mark Pvt. Ltd
