Introduction
The Startup India Initiative launched in 2016 under the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister has the mission to build a startup ecosystem so robust that every person with a dream to have their own business doesn’t need to hesitate twice before thinking of starting a business in India. This vision was shared by each department of the Government of India and have subsequently worked towards making the process easier of their respective departments for the recognised Startups. Starting from self-compliance under the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to reduction in compliance procedure under Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Recently, The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) technical wing called the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) rolled out circulars under its Voluntary Certification Scheme specifically for Department of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recognised Startups.
About the Scheme
Before we learn about the scheme it is important to understand what is TEC and what role it plays under the telecom industry.
TEC plays a crucial role in the telecom ecosystem of India. TEC provides technical support to DoT and formulates technical specifications in the form of standards, of various telecommunication technologies such as telecom equipments, networks, systems and services to be deployed in Indian Telecom Network, in harmony with the international standards.
TEC offers a number of voluntary certification schemes based on its product and interface related technical standards. These schemes certify the product/equipment based on the testing against the various parameters and conditions laid down in the respective TEC technical standards.
With a view to support and encourage ecosystem for Startups in the telecom industry and related Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, TEC has published new circulars for testing and certification of telecom products and reduction in certificate renewal fee. The brief of the circulars are as follows:
- DPIIT registered Startups and registered Medium Small & Micro Enterprises can avail a total exemption on testing and certification fee of telecom products under the Voluntary Certification Scheme of TEC. This exemption is valid for a period of 5 years, and it will also benefit women entrepreneur enterprises.
- Further, the certificate renewal fee is substantially reduced (by existing 50% to 95% as per product category) to encourage the firms to get their certificates renewed after a period of 5 years. The said renewal certificate will be valid for a period of 10 years.
Conclusion
Startups at the start of this business are generally burdened with compliance procedure and its costs. Since, facing a cash crunch in the initial period of business such support by the authorities comes as a great blessing and also motivates entrepreneurs to keep up with the compliance procedures.
To keep this motivation going, the department also reduced the renewal fee and extended its validity which shows a great vision from the telecom department to keep the products well under standards and also help business in the compliance procedure.
To know more about getting your Startup DPIIT recognised kindly visit us on https://www.startupindia.gov.in/ and register with us on https://www.startupindia.gov.in/content/sih/en/registration.html
This has been co-authored by Ria Sharma and Kritika Narula.
