Startup India Initiative is a flagship program by the Government of India to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and enterprise in the country. The initiative is aimed at empowering startups to grow through innovation and design.

The government has rolled out an action plan to enable a transition in how businesses launch and operate. A bunch of benefits have been announced to promote start-up ecosystem in India under the program.

If you fulfill following conditions, you are eligible to apply under the scheme subject to government qualifiers:

• Yours entity is incorporated or registered in India.
• It is not older than five years.
• The annual turnover should not have exceeded INR 25 crore in any preceding Financial Year.
• It is working towards innovation, development, deployment or commercialization of new products, processes or services driven by technology or intellectual property.

To avail the benefits under this initiative, the startup entity should be registered as one of the below:

• Private Limited Company
• One Person Company (OPC)
• A registered Partnership firm
• Limited Liability Partnership Firm (LLP)

ClearTax can assist you with all procedural requirements to get registered under the scheme so that you can avail the benefits listed under the scheme.

The scheme has brought a bunch of benefits for the startup to launch in a cost effective manner, procure funds, get their intellectual rights protected at subsidised rates among others.

Key pointers:

• Tax benefits

  Relaxation in Income Tax for first three years
  Exemption on Capital Gain

• Intellectual Property rights protection

  Fast track processing and 80% rebate on Startup Patent Registration

• Simplified process

  Simplified route to incorporate business and getting other government registration via dedicated web portal and mobile app
  Arrangement of self certificate based compliance
  No inspection during the first 3 years
  Easy exit policy

• Mentorship by industry experts & ease in procurement of funds

  Academic Partnership & Incubators support in Research & Analysis
  Funding Support through a ‘Fund of Funds’ with a Corpus of INR 10,000 crore

ClearTax taps into its network of consultants and other industry experts. Following services make us one-stop-shop for getting launched:

• Seamless process to get registered on Startup government portal.
• Support in building liaison with Incubators and Accelerators and putting across the proposal.
• Mentorship from Industry Experts, ace knowledge institutions like IIMs, IITs etc.
• Assistance in evaluating business prospects, carrying out feasibility check, making projected financial statements.
• Drafting Project Report, Templates for pitching for funding by Incubation Funds/ Angel Funds/ Private Equity Funds/ Accelerators/ Angel Network

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has initiated a fast track registration procedure called Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically (SPICe). SPICe enables a single form application process of company registration. The normal registration route can take up to thirty days but if SPICe is followed the whole process can be closed within 7 days.

ClearTax aims at rendering premium services and delivering it in a speedy manner. The incorporation services shall be delivered following the SPICe route.

Typically depending upon the nature of product or service rendered by the business entity following one-time government registrations are required to start business operations:

• Providing Services in India: Service Tax
• Trading in or Selling Goods: VAT
• Trading in or Selling Edible Goods: FSSAI
• Manufacturing Goods: Excise (IEC)
• Goods Exports & Imports: Customs (IEC)

Note: With effect from 1st April, 2017, Goods & Service Tax (GST) will phase out most indirect state and central imposed taxes like VAT (Value Added Tax), service tax, excise etc.

Funds form backbone of a business. Options used during procurement of funds can affects the capital structure, decision making power concentration etc. The various options include:

• Bootstrapping which simply means using own savings or funds raised from family and friends.
• Crowdfunding which is like taking a loan, pre-order, contribution or investments from more than one person at the same time.
• Loans from financial institutions like banks , NBFCs etc
• Angel Investors and Venture Capitalist’s investment

Investors be it Angels,Venture Capitalists or others invest based on project prospects in terms of feasibility, expected ROI (Return On Investments), commercial viability etc. The credentials help instil confidence in the investors.

ClearTax can assist you on your fund procurement journey by:

• Preparing templates for pitching to prospective investors.
• Drafting projected Financial statements like P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow etc.
• Providing assistance in assessing Long & Short-term fund requirement and deciding the capital structure.
• Fastest Product Patent registration and protection of other intellectual rights.

Apart from getting your service tax registration, you must also consider protecting your brand by registering the trademark for your brand. Also, if you are building any proprietary software or any other intellectual property, you must secure a copyright. Our experts can assist you with trademark and copyright registration.

The capital structure of a private limited company can easily accommodate equity funding. So Venture Capitalists prefer pvt. Ltd. over any other structure.

Being a regulations compliant entity, it becomes easy to attract capital infusion from financial institutions like banks, NBFCs etc.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has made the new company registration process a completely online process. All the document flow happens in electronic form and there is no need of any physical presence.

After you have got your company registered, you will need one or more of the following services:

• TradeMark and Copyright registration
• Provident Fund and Employee State Insurance (ESI) Registration
• Bookkeeping, accounting and audit services
• Payroll for Employees
• Filing of Tax Returns
• Filing of Company Returns

Many of these services will required on an ongoing basis. ClearTax has a special monthly package for new business to manage their business compliances on an ongoing basis. Talk to our experts or write to us at enquiries@cleartax.in to know more

The compliance need of a startup depend primarily on the nature of its structure, product or service it is rendering etc. The general ones can be listed as below:

• Preparation of books of accounts (Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow statement)
• Payroll services
• Appointment of First Auditor
• Payment of periodic dues & return filing (VAT liability, Service Tax Liability, TDS & TCS payment)
• Filing of Tax Audit Report
• Ongoing Regulatory compliance under different laws (Eg. Environment Protection Act, RBI Regulations, FEMA etc.)

When an organisation employees people, to regulate the working conditions, protection and promotion of employee rights etc various regulations are imposed by authorities under various act. These include:

• Shop & Establishment Act
• Employee State Insurance Act
• Employee Provident Fund Act
• Factory and Labour laws (if applicable)

ClearTax Experts will help you assess the requirement for registrations under the various acts based on analysis of your case.

• Evaluating the need of work force
• Hiring i.e finding right person for right post
• Establishing effective payroll system
• Human resource development including performance appraisal, on job/off job training etc

Cleartax taps into its wide network of HR consultants and other platforms like LinkedIn to cater to Human resource procurement needs of its clients.

To know more, You can write to us at enquiries@cleartax.in

ClearTax understands the needs of entrepreneurs in this country. Hence, we have partnered with service providers and banks in the ecosystem to offer the best in breed solutions for startups.

We have partnered with Instamojo for below services to startups at a special rate for ClearTax customers.
You will have following benefits

• Zero Fee on Payment Gateway Integration
• Zero Transaction charges upto Rs. 2 Lakhs
• Discount on Charges per transaction beyond 20 transactions

Once you avail our startup package, ClearTax representatives will directly connect you with our partners to avail these benefits.

We have partnered with coworking spaces such as Awfis, BHIVE and 91 Springboard to help you find the best workspace across 50 locations in the country for your business. Not only that, ClearTax customers will get the following benefits

• 10% discount on annual package from 91 Springboard. Additional discounts available on open corporate and private plans
• Flat 15% discount on all services from Awfis
• Flat 10% discount on all services from BHIVE. A Free day pass to Cleartax Customers, for the first time users at any of BHIVE locations

Once you avail this package, ClearTax representatives will directly connect with our partners based on your requirement.

No Sweat. We have collaborated with Google to offer you G-Suite - Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar and much more at a special discount of 20% to ClearTax customers

With BigRock as our domain hosting partners, you will be able to set up your website in no time. As a ClearTax customer, you will be eligible for special offers.

As a startup, we understand the banking needs for entrepreneurs. We have collaborated with India’s leading banks to offer comprehensive banking solutions for your business

ICICI Bank

• Business Networking with BizCircle
• Opportunity to connect with investors at ICICI events
• Customized solutions on current account and digital banking
• Personalized service with dedicated relationship manager
• Special Deals and offer on select business services

Yes Bank

• Customized Current Account
• Seamless Digital Banking
• Dedicated Startup Branches
• Bespoke Privilege Program

As a ClearTax customer, our representatives will direct connect you with our partners to avail these services.