Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has taken any action on setting up a Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Incubation Centre under Next Generation Incubation Scheme in Shillong;
(b) if so, the funds allocated and spent thereon including the status of the aforesaid scheme; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?
(a): The Government is fully committed to the growth and expansion of Indian start-ups, which is one of the fastest expanding global ecosystems. Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) has been approved by the Union Government of India to handhold 300 tech start-ups over a period of 3 years through 12 specialised incubators of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) located at Agartala, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Mohali, Patna & Vijayawada. The Scheme was launched in August, 2020. Currently, STPI Incubation Centre at Shillong is not a part of NGIS.
(b): As NGIS was approved for 12 pre-identified Tier II/III locations mentioned above, therefore, no funds are allocated for Shillong under the Scheme. However, the total budget outlay of NGIS over a period of 3 years is Rs. 95.03 Crore. Till date, an amount of Rs. 20.54 Crore have been released by Government
of India for the NGIS, out of which Rs. 15.41 Crore have been spent.So far, three Open Challenge Programmes have been launched under NGIS for selection of start-ups. Total 171 start-ups have been selected under the Scheme out of which 111 start-ups have been on-boarded.
(c): As mentioned above. However, STPI is establishing Centre of Entrepreneurship (CoE) and Start-up Innovation Zones (SIZs) in capital city of each North Eastern State of India in phased manner names as “OCTANE”. Under OCTANE phase-I a CoE in Animation has been established in STPI Incubation Centre at Shillong with the support of Ministry of Electronics and IT.
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