New Guidelines Issued By Defence Ministry For Startups!

The defence ministry of India released latest guidelines for startups, this week. The ministry issued the rules exclusively for homegrown startups to initiate their take toward military projects. They want startups to focus their attention on extensive research and development regarding the upgradation of weapon systems and to reduce the imports as well.

According to the new rules projects with estimated cost of prototype development phase not exceeding Rs 3 crore, no separate technical or financial criteria (will) be defined for both startups and other than startups, to encourage their participation. The new rules comprise startups recognised by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under certain categories. These startups would qualify to take part in specific defence projects only. The categories include aeronautics, nanotechnology, virtual reality, renewable technology, robotics, green technology and internet of things. For relatively smaller research and development projects, the government has simplified rules by keeping the space wide open to all Indian companies for further participation.  Also, these new rules apply to the Make II category of defence procurement in which a specific private industry funds the research for the product on its own. Alongside, it would develop a prototype that is offered to the concerned service for evaluation. The report says there will be no government funding for developing the prototype there is an assurance of orders on successful development and trials of the prototype. The categories, the Army, Air Force and Navy have already identified 53 projects that can be taken up on priority under the rules. These include Maneuverable Expendable Aerial Targets (MEAT) for Army Air Defence, lightweight body armour, a robotic surveillance platform, diesel engines for boats, limpet mines, air to ground rockets and long range glide bombs.

The Indian startup ecosystem is emerging at an amazing pace and keeping this in mind the latest rules looks effective.