Devendra Fadnavis on November 30 said a new comprehensive policy on start-ups would be unveiled in Maharashtra soon.

Speaking at the Badalta Maharashtra conclave organised by Loksatta in Mumbai, the CM said a state-of-the-art start-up park had been planned in Pune.

He assured young entrepreneurs of his government’s support to start-up ventures. “Every innovative idea can be a success model provided it has its origins in the planning at ground reality, which can be scalable and commercially viable,” said Fadnavis.

Marathi newspaper Loksatta organised a two-day conclave where a panel of experts held interactive sessions on multiple aspects related to start-ups. Speaking on the concluding day, the Chief Minister said: “We are going to come out with a new start-up policy. Though we have taken a headstart in fragmented ways, an integrated approach adequately backed with skill development programmes sector-wise across districts are in process.”

Fadnavis, who has held discussions on start-ups with global players during his visit to America last year, shared his experience with examples related to the Indian and Maharashtra context to reaffirm how the model can become commercially viable and generate new avenues of employment.

“America is the global start-up hub. When I asked an entrepreneur about the financial model, I was told out of 100 start-ups only four are huge success and 96 fail. But they rework in manner in which they recover the entire profits and commercially make it viable through these four start-ups to offset the losses in the rest 96 companies. To some extent, it is a luxury which we cannot imagine in Indian context,” he said.

Fadnavis stressed that the start-ups were no longer going to be confined to cities. “But it would be extended to the villages,” he said.

Fadnavis said agriculture had a huge potential where innovation coupled with pragmatism could make the start-up model a success.

Stating that his government was committed to creating an eco-system for this, the CM said, “We already have made it mandatory for the MIDC to reserve 5 per cent commercial space for incubators. On the lines of the Centre’s legislation on intellectual property rights and many practical suggestions from the academics and experts, we would incorporate views to strengthen our policy.”

Source: The Indian Express