Govt recognises 1,14,902 entities as startups as on October 31

New Delhi: The government has recognised 1,14,902 entities as startups as on October 31, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

These eligible firms are allowed to seek fiscal incentives under the Startup India Action Plan, which was launched in January 2016, and that includes income tax exemption for three years.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said the action plan includes 19 items spanning across areas such as simplification and handholding, funding support and incentives and industry-academia partnership and incubation.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) "has recognised 1,14,902 entities as startups as on 31st October 2023," he said.

Replying to a separate question, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said subdued demand in major export destinations such as the US, Hong Kong, the Middle East and China and availability of raw materials at competitive rates were some of the challenges faced by the gems and jewellery export industry.

Export of gem and jewellery during 2022-23 was at USD 38.11 billion, a decline of 2.95 per cent compared to the previous year's export of USD 39.27 billion, she informed.

The sector constituted 8.45 per cent in the total merchandise exports during 2022-23 and the industry employs around 5 million skilled and semi-skilled workforce.

In another reply, she said that to ensure goods imported are not of substandard quality, the customs authority follows a risk-based framework to intelligently prevent entry of non-compliant goods at the borders.

"A task force has also been constituted in CBIC (Central Board Of Indirect Taxes and Customs) for enforcing national standards," Patel said.

She added that as far as imported goods such as TVs and tyre, are concerned, the trade data indicates that there are several categories of import of such products where there has been considerable reduction in imports.

Citing certain examples, she provided data that showed imports of different size of TV sets, liquid crystal display television set, and different kinds of tyres declined during April-October this fiscal.

Imports of television sets of screen size exceeding 54 cm but not exceeding 68 cm dipped to USD 0.02 million during April-October this fiscal from USD 0.25 million in 2021-22.

Similarly, imports of radial tyres used in buses/lorries declined to USD 1.01 million during the seven-month period of this fiscal as against USD USD 16.92 million in 2021-22.

"The Department of Commerce has been regularly monitoring and sensitizing line ministries and other stakeholders from time to time and at various levels on the issue of imports," she said.

Sensitization is happening in areas such as addressing domestic supply rigidities and looking at domestic production opportunities /enhancement of capacity; timely use of trade remedy options; Quality Controls; enforcing rules of origin; tariff measures /inverted duty correction; and import monitoring.