NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (IANS): Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the new "Start-Up India" scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote and nurse entrepreneurship will ensure minimum interference from the government with attractive tax incentives.
"Start-Up India will change conventions. Government will merely be a facilitator for start-ups," the finance minister told the inaugural session of the day-long event here which will see the prime minister formally unveil the scheme later in the evening.
"We ostensibly broke away from the license raj in 1991, conceived with idea that government will decide which businesses can run," said Jaitley. "Our effort in last few years has been to restrict role of the state in policy domain," he said, assuring Start-Up India scheme will follow that path.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister said he looked forward to the formal launch.
"Start-UpIndia movement begins today. This movement celebrates the energy and enterprising spirit of our youth," he tweeted. "Will join the programme to commence the Start-Up India movement this evening. Looking forward to interacting with start-up entrepreneurs."
The event at the Vigyan Bhavan official conference complex has been a top draw.
"There is seating capacity of 1,350 (at Vigyan Bhavan). Over 200,000 people have sought passes. Please sympathise with us. There is live relay," Industries Secretary Amitabh Kant had tweeted ahead of the event.
