Centre reconstituted National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC)

Upon completion of the two-year term of the NSAC, the Central Government nominated non-official members on the National Startup Advisory Council representing various stakeholders

such as founders of successful startups, veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, persons capable of representing interest of investors into startups, persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators, representatives of associations of stakeholders of startups and representatives of industry associations .

About NSAC

• Genesis: NSAC was notified in 2020 by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of
  Commerce and Industry.
• Aim: To advise Government on fostering innovation and startups for sustainable economic growth and widespread employment.
• Composition: It consists of members from relevant line Ministries, Departments, and Organizations, as well as nonofficial members.
  ♦ Non-official members include founders of successful startups, persons representing interests of investors,
  incubators and accelerators, etc.
  ♦ Their term is two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Headed by: Union Minister of Commerce & Industry.

Key functions of NSAC:

• The council meets on a regular basis to suggest measures to:

  i.        Foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students in particular;

  ii.      Promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country, including semi-urban and rural areas;

  iii.   Support creative and innovative ideas through incubation and research and development to transform them into valuable products, processes or solutions to improve productivity and efficiency;

  iv.   Create an environment of absorption of innovation in industry;

  v.      Facilitate public organizations to assimilate innovation with a view to improving public service delivery;

  vi.   Promote creation, protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights;

  vii.  Make it easier to start, operate, grow and exit businesses by reducing regulatory compliances and costs;

  viii.   Promote ease of access to capital for startups;

  ix.   Incentivize domestic capital for investments into startups;

  x.      Mobilize global capital for investments in Indian startups;

  xi.   Keep control of startups with original promoters.

  xii.  Provide access to global markets for Indian startups.

Source: Internet

Achievements of NSAC:

Programs such as MAARG, National Mentorship Program, Adoption of NavIC Grand Challenge,
Startup Champions 2.0 etc. are some of the programs ideated and incubated by NSAC.

Other initiatives for Startups promotion

• Startup India to catalyse startup culture in India.
• Fund of Funds for Startups Scheme with corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore to meet funding needs of startups.
• Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) to protect and promote Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of Startups
• Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience, and Growth (MAARG) programme, virtual platform to mentor startups