Good start for 'Start Up India':Rajeev Chandrasekhar

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Member and Technology Entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that last week, the ‘Start-up India’ Action Plan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This focus on start-ups is important in many different ways – as an alternate to big corporate India’s lack of investments into the economy, as a way of catalysing entrepreneurship to create jobs, and as a way of tapping the demographic dividend of India as a competitive advantage in the global economy.

“With more than 4,100 Tech start-ups, India is home to the third largest number of Tech start-ups in the world and countless other non-tech start-ups. The PM’s Action Plan lays out detailed steps that make it easier for start-ups to operate - from defining a start-up to providing a 80% rebate on the filing of patents; making it easier to setup and run a start-up,” he said.

“Now with the tax exemptions, credit incentives, discounts on patent filing and a dozen more benefits, the Start-up India initiative will, without a doubt, be a boost to the existing start-ups. Funding to the tune of $9 billion was pumped into Indian Tech start-ups in 2015 - an amount which is equal to the total funding start-ups received between 2010 and 2014. The self-certification and funding support system, in particular, will help increase the number of Tech entrepreneurs and innovators in setting up new ventures,” said Chandrasekhar

“As someone who himself started-up his entrepreneurial career in one of the first Cellular start-ups in India – I can endorse the need for this focus on start-ups by the Government.  Start-ups in India have had two traditional significant barriers or obstacles,” said Chandrasekhar while interacting with Start Up entrepreneurs and Young professionals for a session “Get Offline with Rajeev Chandrasekhar” #Startups #Netnuetrality and #ASK in New Delhi.

“One, the apathy, corruption, red tape of government and its policies to those without ‘connections’ and second, the destructive power of big corporates in India who, through their political power and influence, can stop dead a start-up if it attempts to compete with them. I have experienced both first hand, and so, can testify to the power of both to disrupt the best start-ups. It is this that makes most start-ups focus on the Tech sector because of the minimal influence of government and corporates into that space,” he added.

“But it’s necessary for our policy makers to address this issues with deeper structural reforms that broadens the Start-up India appeal to non-Tech sectors. These structural reforms and policies go beyond the current action plan, tax incentives and removing red tape,” said Chandrasekhar.

“It must go into issues that deal with policy making that is fair and equitable (and not biased in favour of any big corporate), regulatory reforms (that allow regulators to intervene if big corporates try and muscle in on start-ups), banking and capital market reforms (that allow capital access to all and not just a few connected or big corporates, as is the case now), and reforms like GST (that make it easier for small start-ups to operate in the entire country) and a marketplace that allows for free and fair competition. These reforms are not particularly unique to start-ups; they also impact the Small and Medium businesses that already operate but are particularly life-supportish for start-ups that need every encouragement to be successful,” he added.

“Let’s look at one example of how Government policy making is key for Start-ups – in the Digital and Tech space, in addition to a conducive start-up environment, tax incentives and funding, Tech entrepreneurs’ critical requirement includes affordable access to the Internet for themselves and for their clients. The current debate on Net Neutrality and the future of the Internet in India has a direct bearing on this and tech start-ups,” he said.

In December last year, 9 prominent start-ups made it unequivocally clear to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that they were squarely against any attempt of Telcos to cabelize the internet. In an open letter, they stated:

“The open nature of the Internet has spurred innovation and enabled startups to flourish. The success of Google, Facebook or of several Indian startups, including those founded by the below signatories to this letter, is a result of the open nature of the Internet that permitted innovation without any entry barriers,"

“I could not have put it better myself,” said Chandrasekhar.

“With over 300 million internet users and an expected 200 million more by 2017, the role of the internet and free & fair competition on it, is essential for the growth of tech start-ups to access this vast consumer base. The operative words here are ‘access’ and ‘fair competition,” he said.

“The Internet is increasingly transforming from being a connectivity medium to a valuable market place. Predictably, Telcos that control access to the Internet will try and creep and acquire control on parts of the Internet to gain part of that value. But in contrast, a start-up needs unfettered access to the Internet, without Telcos controlling and gatekeeping access to parts of the Internet in an anti-competitive manner,” said Rajya Sabha MP

“If Government policy permitted this, it would in a sense negate all the pluses accruing from the Start-up India Action plan announced by the Government, as Start-ups would have to pay the Telcos an ‘access fee’ or get into some commercial arrangement whereby they pay the Telco to get ‘preferential access’ to their web content over others. This goes back to the threat I mentioned of having big corporates determine the fate of start-ups. If allowed to gatekeep and cabelize the Internet, Telcos would be playing God in determining success or failure of start-ups,” said Chandrasekhar.

“As it currently stands, Telcos remain the biggest threat to Net Neutrality, and therefore, Start Ups. The irony, however, is that these technological developments actually provide a huge opportunity for Telcos to boost their own revenues. The Internet of Things (IoT), an emerging area that Start Ups are sure to veer towards, for instance, offers avenues for telecom operators & system integrators to significantly boost their revenues. This, in fact, has resulted in their taking a lead in the offering of IoT-based services.

As someone who has spent more than a little time in this sector, disruption is the new normal in technology. By resisting this, Telcos are only defying the laws of gravity of the technology sector and trying to duck innovation and change,” he added.

On 21st January, TRAI held an ‘Open House Discussion’ on its Differential Pricing Consultation Paper. One point which I have repeatedly stated time and again is that Telcos should not be allowed to play the role of gatekeepers to the Internet. To do so would create an unconducive start-up environment for Tech entrepreneurs.

“It is now up to the Government to ensure that the Net Neutrality principles are upheld and the Internet is left a free, open market-place – for consumers, and for the thriving start-up community that it seeks to support,” he said.

“So it’s obvious that to make Start-up India successful, the Government also needs to focus on creating a policy and regulatory environment that allows them to function freely and fairly. In this case, perhaps even a specific legislation for Net Neutrality.  The other broader challenge is the ability of Government departments and bureaucrats to deal with young, bright entrepreneurs which leads to another issue of creating capacity and capability within Government to deal with new ideas, businesses and technologies – which it is obvious that Government is woefully underprepared and undermanned for - to even the kindest supporter of our bureaucracy,” said Chandrasekhar.

“The government’s policy too acknowledges the strong interdependence that Start-Ups have with technology. Last July, when the Digital India program was unveiled, Prime Minister Modi spoke at length about the need for the program to focus on innovation,” said MP.

“The Prime Minister assured full support to young entrepreneurs who wished to launch Start-ups. I am fully convinced about and supportive of our PM’s desire to unleash the potential of young India on to the world and into our economy. The Government’s Startup India action plan is a big start to this. But a lot more still needs to be done to make this full and complete – It needs to focus on other policy and regulatory actions that are required to make Startup India a true, deep revolution for the youth in India and for a real boost to our economy and our global standing,” said Chandrasekhar.

At the event , he also introduced ASK,  an initiative undertaken by him  in order to promote and encourage citizens to be involved in the political process and demand accountability from the government. Rajeev believes that a citizen’s involvement in a democracy does not and should not end at casting a ballot. The spirit of democracy is to question the ones in power and check the executive.

ASK is a platform where Rajeev acts as a conduit between the citizens and the government. Citizens can raise questions and issues which they feel should be addressed by the government in the parliament and Rajeev will take them up on the floor of the house. It is an initiative where Rajeev would be the voice of the citizens in the Parliament.

There have been five editions of the ASK campaign so far and they have been received with favorable success. The upcoming Budget Session would see the sixth edition of ASK and we hope to reach out to as many citizens and influencers as possible so that their questions can be taken to the Parliament for the government to answer. The success of this campaign should also encourage other legislators to adopt this model of participative democracy.