Sunday, July 3, 2016

Surge in improper IPR Applications, 'NASSCOM 10,000 Startups' & DIPP get into the act

There is lot of 'buzz' these days at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) offices
(to be precise, Cell for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Promotion and Management) across India. 

Ever since the Prime minister of India announced that the Government intended to launch an initiative titled “Startup India, Stand up India” to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth on India’s Independence Day last year, as of June 24, close to 571 budding entrepreneurs have filed applications with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for recognition as innovative start-ups to avail tax breaks and other benefits.

Out of these, only 12 are eligible for consideration by the inter-ministerial board for tax benefits, Startup India tweeted. Startup India is an initiative of the DIPP.

Seven have submitted all documents and are eligible for Startup India benefits and tax exemption and 106 have submitted all documents but are not eligible for tax exemptions, it said.


One of the main reasons for the Start-Ups not being able to cross the line to avail tax sops is the lack of knowledge with respect to attaching the relevant documents. The Start-Ups are also facing issues in getting a certificate from VCs and incubators on the innovativeness of their proposal, which is a crucial document to avail tax sops, provided in the startup action plan.

In a recent interactive program organized by "NASSCOM 10,000 Start-Ups" along with the DIPP at T-Hub, Hyderabad, experts from DIPP and other private agencies talked at length along with presentations explaining the budding entrepreneurs the nuances of basics of IPR, patents and copyrights, details of which can be accessed by clicking the link below.

It is noteworthy to see that the 'Patent Filings' for the year 2015-2016 have increased by 10% to 46,916 as against 42,774 filed during 2014-15. Whereas, 'Trade Mark Filings' have increased by 35% to 2,83,060 as against 2,10,501 filed during 2014-2015.

Please do share the above presentations by the DIPP with budding entrepreneurs and help them protect their inventions and foster technological improvements in India.