About

• Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. 

Composition of the Council

• The Council will be chaired by the Minister for Commerce & Industry. 
• It will consist of the non-official members, to be nominated by the Central Government, from various categories like founders of successful startups, veterans and persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators etc.
• The term of the non-official members of the Startup Advisory Council will be for a period of two years
• The nominees of the concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, will be ex-officio members of the Council.

Roles and functions

• The council shall, inter alia, suggest measures to:
  • Foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students in particular;
  • Promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country, including semi-urban and rural areas;
  • 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;
  • Create an environment of absorption of innovation in industry;
  • Facilitate public organizations to assimilate innovation with a view to improving public service delivery;
  • Promote creation, protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights;
  • Make it easier to start, operate, grow and exit businesses by reducing regulatory compliances and costs;
  • Promote ease of access to capital for startups;
  • Incentivize domestic capital for investments into startups;
  • Mobilize global capital for investments in Indian startups;
  • Keep control of startups with original promoters.
  • Provide access to global markets for Indian startups.

Why in the news?

• Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution Piyush Goyal recently chaired the first meeting of National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC). 

References:

1. https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1690068
2. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1712081