NITI Aayog to fund 80 incubation centers in 2nd phase of Startup India Program

New Delhi, July 24 (KNN) With a view to encourage and foster Indian startup ecosystem, NITI Aayog will fund 80 incubation centers including Atal Incubation Centers and Established Incubation Centers (EICs), across the country.

This funding exercise will be part of the second phase of Startup India Program that was announced earlier this year.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that the government has selected 80 incubation centers for funding by Niti Aayog in the 2^nd phase of Startup India program.

The names of 80 incubation centers that will be funded in the second phase have still not been made official.

However, it is confirmed that Atal Incubation Centres and Established Incubation Centres (EICs) will be receiving funds in the second phase.

In a written reply to question, Chaudhary said that Startup India hub has so far mentored more than 550 startups, 2,20,000 startups have been registered and nearly one lakh queries have been successfully handled.

In the first funding phase, NITI Aayog had selected only 19 incubation centers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the Startup India and Standup India initiative on Independence Day in 2015.

The initiative was officially launched by former Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on January 2016.

It aims at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting innovation by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of Start-ups.