Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the overseas Indian community can play a role in shaping start-ups in the country and announced that NRI mentors will be brought on the same platform as Indian start-ups.
The e-passport service may also become a reality with the government working on a chip-based system, Modi said, addressing NRIs at the 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention in Varanasi on Tuesday.
“The government is trying to bring India’s start-ups and NRI mentors on the same platform. Defence manufacturing can also be an important sector for you,” Modi said addressing the 5,000 overseas Indian participants from over 85 countries at the conclave. Eligible start-ups in India get a number of sops such as exemption from various taxes, assistance for filing patents, and self-certification on compliance with several labour and environment regulations.
Modi, however, did not elaborate on what benefits the NRI mentors would be eligible for once they are brought on the same platform as start-ups.
On e-passports, too, the Prime Minister did not specify how the complicated process would be carried out and whether it would benefit all citizens. Modi said that it was the extension of the ongoing passport and visa facilitation process of the government and its efforts to put in place a centralised system for passports by connecting all Indian embassies and consulates worldwide.
‘Ensured zero leakages’
He said that his government had, over the last four years, given ₹5,80,000-crore worth of benefits under various schemes through direct transfers to beneficiaries, resulting in zero leakages.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Modi said that a former PM (an indirect reference to Rajiv Gandhi) had admitted that just 15 per cent of the government’s spend reached the beneficiaries, but had done nothing to check it. “By using technology, my government ended the 85 per cent loot 100 per cent,” he said.
The inaugural ceremony was also attended by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat.