Budget 2015: Tech startups get Rs 1,000 crore boost; SETU to be set up

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a proposal to set up a Self- Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) mechanism, while presenting Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha today. He stated that SETU will be a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. [caption id=“attachment_2030177” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Thinkstock image[/caption] An amount of Rs 1000 crore is being set up initially in NITI Aayog for SETU. “We are now seeing a growing interest in start-ups. Experimenting in cutting edge technologies, creating value out of ideas and initiatives and converting them into scalable enterprises and businesses is at the core of our strategy for engaging our youth and for inclusive and sustainable growth of the country,” Jaitley said. He said concerns such as a more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities in our Centres of Excellence, funding for seed capital and growth, and ease of doing business etc need to be addressed to create lakh of jobs and hundreds of billion dollars in value. The minister said, with this objective in mind, SETU is being set up.