Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the government is taking several steps to promote young entrepreneurs in the country, adding that start-ups are no longer confined to big cities.

Smaller towns and villages too are emerging as vibrant start-up centres, the Prime Minister said while interacting with young entrepreneurs from across the country, including cities such as Dehradun, Guwahati and Raipur. He also said along with Make in India, Design in India too is important for start-ups.

“Adequate capital, courage and connecting with people is required to excel in the start-up sector,” he said. Modi added that there was a time when start-ups meant only digital and technology innovation, but now things are changing and we are seeing start-ups in various other fields, including agriculture. “We have started an Agriculture Grand Challenge. We invite more youngsters to ideate on how to transform our agriculture sector,” he added.

The government has launched the Startup India Action Plan to promote budding entrepreneurs in the country. The plan is aimed at giving incentives such as a tax holiday, inspector raj-free regime and capital gains tax exemption, Modi said. “Our start-ups are growth engines. Today’s big companies were start-ups at some point. I urge the people of India to keep innovating,” he added.

He also said the youth in India is now creating jobs and the government is committed to harnessing the demographic dividend. Commenting on the issue of fund availability for start-ups, Modi said the government has created a Rs 10,000-crore Fund of Funds.

He also said start-ups can sell their products to the government and it has eased public procurement norms for them. India has distinguished itself in the global start-up ecosystem, the Prime Minister added.

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