Startup India tax breaks for two more companies

NEW DELHI: Two more startups qualified for tax breaks as part of the Startup India programme, taking the total to three.

The duo was picked at the third inter-ministerial board meeting on Friday that considered applications of 13 startups, a senior official told ET.
One company’s application was deferred to the next round while the rest were rejected.

The two— officials declined to name them - join Kanpur-based Bhurak Technologies Pvt, which was awarded the tax incentive in the second meeting held last month Only companies registered after April 2016 and satisfying other criteria can apply for exemption. This includes recommendation by an authorised incubator that innovation is a key aspect of the startup’s business.

Singapore-registered LetsVenture and Kerala-based KSIDC Business Incubation Centre were added to the list of authorised incubators on Friday. Establishing a network of incubators is a thrust area of the department of industrial policy & promotion ( DIPP).

Last year, 20 private organisations were added to the pool of 278 government-run incubators allowed to certify and recommend startups. DIPP is pushing for extending tax benefits under the programme to seven years from three now.

Of the Rs 10,000 crore fund of funds set up for startups, Small Industries Development Bank of India ( Sidbi) has sanctioned Rs 168 crore toward the corpus of six alternative investment funds.