Come January 1, the city’s young innovators will be able to avail subsidies under the Chandigarh startup policy, which was rolled out in April this year. UT chief secretary H Rajesh Prasad has approved the working guidelines, which have now been sent to UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria for notification.
The startup policy, which came into effect on April 29, was introduced nearly seven years behind schedule and was projected as a major catalyst for nurturing the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The policy will remain in force for five years from the date of notification.
Nishant Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner and secretary (industries), Chandigarh, confirmed that the chief secretary has approved the guidelines and that these have been forwarded to the UT administrator for notification which can be expected within the next three to four days. Entrepreneurs can start applying for subsidies under the startup policy from January 1, he said.
He added that applications received between January 1 and March will be evaluated, following which subsidies will be released. Startups will be able to apply through an online portal, which will be released soon, he said.
According to the guidelines, eligible startups must be recognised by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) and must have their office located within Chandigarh. Once an application is submitted, it will be examined by the policy monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC). If no discrepancies are found, approval will be granted within 15 days. In case of gaps, startups will be given 15 days to meet the eligibility criteria.
While applications will be accepted throughout the year, the PMIC will convene only once every quarter.
Work on formulating the Chandigarh startup policy began in 2018 – two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the national Startup India initiative, which encouraged states and union territories to design region-specific policies. However, repeated administrative delays and revisions resulted in Chandigarh missing multiple rollout deadlines.
In August 2023, the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha, where Union minister of state for commerce and industry Som Parkash stated that 335 startups from Chandigarh had been recognised under the Startup India initiative. Despite this, the city lacked an operational framework to provide incentives and structured support to emerging ventures.
The issue was also highlighted in the “Chandigarh 2030 and Beyond” vision document released in November 2022. The document underscored the city’s limited employment opportunities, weak industry-academia linkages, and inadequate efforts to impart technical skills aligned with evolving market needs. It recommended a renewed push to attract digital jobs, revitalise the IT Park, and explore new opportunities such as establishing a film city or media hub to expand employment and entrepreneurial avenues in the region.
