30-Jan-2019: Government renames DIPP as Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade with a mandate to deal with matters related to start-ups, facilitating ease of doing business among others.
The newly-named department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will look into matters related to promotion of internal trade, including retail trade, welfare of traders and their employees, facilitating ease of doing business and start-ups.
The matters related to internal trade were earlier under the domain of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The President gave his nod to bring internal trade matters under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The move comes amidst a demand by traders’ body CAIT for forming a separate ministry for internal trade.
13-Nov-2018: DIPP hosts Global Digital Content Market 2018
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is hosting a conference on Global Digital Content Market (GDCM) 2018, on14th- 15th November 2018, in New Delhi. The conference will feature sessions on music, film, broadcasting and publishing, as well as collective management, emerging models and the implications for the market and policy makers.
India has been chosen as a host nation for the conference by World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) due to the strong creative industry in the country in films, music and media. The focus for this year’s conference is the Asia Pacific region. The GDCM 2018 will see participation of professionals from various creative fields, the digital industry around the world and delegates of the diplomatic community from Missions to the United Nations.
The aim of GDCM 2018 is to give industry stakeholders a platform to come together and discuss new avenues in the films, music, gaming and creative industry along with points of challenge that is presented due to the changing creative landscape because of the disruption brought about by digital technologies. It is hoped that through the GDCM 2018 an exchange of knowledge, culture and good practices amongst the nations of the Asia Pacific region will take place. GDCM is a platform to discuss vital issues and enhance development of the digital and IP generating industries such as publishing, films, music, and gaming all of which are major contributors to the Indian GDP. The presence of key stakeholders from India in GDCM will place it on the global digital stage.
GDCM 2018 is the second edition of the conference. The first conference was held in Geneva 2016. Mr. Francis Gurry, the Director General of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, said that the aim of WIPO is to ensure that a creative artist continues to be protected and receives better remuneration on the digital platform. He appreciated India’s efforts of integration with international systems through the National IPR policy 2016 under which the Government of India has taken efforts for creating an environment in the country that is conducive for the generation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) by increasing awareness among the citizens on the subject and strengthening IPR enforcement mechanisms.
India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index 2018 has improved by 24 places from that of 2015 and now ranks 57th. India is the top-ranked economy in Central and Southern Asia and has now outperformed on innovation relative to its GDP per capita for seven years in a row.
To better equip the enforcement agencies to deal with IP related crimes 33 enforcement training programmes have already been conducted in 9 states in order to train police, customs and the judiciary for tackling cases on IP. Government has also pulled down 80 rogue websites to combat online piracy. India has recently approved accession to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) that has increased the coverage of protection of copyrights in the international IP regime as it is extended to even the internet and digital environment. This will bring the Indian creative industry under and international copyright system, secure distribution of their work and provide them with a level playing field.
Secretary DIPP also informed that large scale augmentation of man power of Indian IP offices has been done which has brought down pendency of IP applications. Trademark registration has increased by leaps and bounds and patent applications have quadrupled in 2017-18 as compared to 2015-16. These efforts are being made to ensure that the country moves towards realizing the goals of Creative India; Innovative India.
10-Jul-2018: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana Top Rankers in Ease of Doing Business
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, released the final rankings of States in Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi. The top rankers are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. Jharkhand and Gujarat stood fourth and fifth respectively.
DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the World Bank conducted an annual reform exercise for all States and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). The aim of this exercise is to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.
The reform plan has expanded from 285 to 372 action points till 2017. States and UTs have conducted reforms to ease their regulations and systems in areas such as labour, environmental clearances, single window system, construction permits, contract enforcement, registering property and inspections. States and UTs have also enacted Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act to enforce the timelines on registrations and approvals.
The current assessment under the BRAP 2017 is based on a combined score consisting of Reform evidence score that is based on evidences uploaded by the States and UTs and Feedback score that is based on the feedback garnered from the actual users of the services provided to the businesses.
It is for the first time that DIPP has introduced taking feedback to ensure that the reforms have actually reached ground level. The feedback was collected through face-to-face interviews of actual users selected from more than 50,000 users of the services provided by the State and UT governments.78 reforms out of 372 were identified for the survey. More than 5,000 private sector users in 23 States and UTs, including 4,300 businesses and 800 architects, lawyers and electrical contractors from across the country shared their experience.
DIPP organised numerous outreach programmes including 30 workshops and periodic video conferences with States and UTs. Another practice introduced in the current reform exercise was handholding support provided by the higher scoring States. DIPP identified partner States to mentor another State and UT to facilitate implementation of reforms in States and UTs needing support. Telangana and West Bengal held extensive workshops to support Tripura and Nagaland respectively. Additionally, States have also provided their systems developed to other states so that everyone can benefit from this reform exercise.
The State reform exercise under Ease of Doing Business in India is creating a lot of interest in other countries like Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia which proves that such reforms are imperative for improving the business and regulatory environment.
DIPP has already shared proposed reforms for the next year with the State and UT Governments. As systems developed in last three years have matured during the existing assessment cycles and the importance of the feedback from the users and success of obtaining user feedback in BRAP, 2017 has been proved, the next year’s assessment will be entirely based on user feedback.
15-May-2018: 30 States and Union Territories participate in State Startup Ranking Framework 2018
With the aim to foster competitiveness and to propel the States and Union Territories to work proactively towards promotion of their Startup eco-systems, the States Startup Ranking Framework was launched by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on 6th February 2018. This was also targeted at facilitating States/UTs to identify, learn and replicate good practices from each other and for bringing to fore, their own progress in the regard.
As a run-up to this, DIPP actively engaged with State and UT Governments over the past several weeks to help them prepare and participate in the States Startup Ranking exercise. Two rounds of video conferences were organised by DIPP with all the States and UTs in the month of March and April 2018. A dedicated team from DIPP also visited all States and UTs to conduct ranking awareness and capacity building workshop. In order to provide exposure to State/UT officials about the process of developing Startup ecosystem in their respective regions, 3 knowledge exchange workshops were conducted at leading incubators in the country. The workshops were organised at T-Hub, Hyderabad on 9th April, 2018, iCreate, Ahmedabad on 11th April, 2018 and Sunrise Incubation Tower, Vishakhapatnam on 16th April, 2018. There was a lot of enthusiasm shown by the States and Union Territories in these workshops which were attended in large numbers.
States and UTs have participated enthusiastically in this first ever State Startup Ranking exercise. A total of 30 States and UTs have participated in this exercise whose last date for submission of documents was 30th April. It is encouraging to note enthusiastic participation from majority of north-eastern and hill States as well, where the Startup ecosystem is still nascent.
The participating States and UTs shall now be evaluated on a score of 100, against 38 action points categorized into 7 areas of intervention such as Startup Policy and implementation, Incubation support, Seed Funding, Angel and Venture Funding, Simplification of Regulations, Easing Public Procurement and Awareness & Outreach. In order to evaluate States/UTs in a balanced and transparent manner, the assessment will be based on the aggregate score of the documentary proofs substantiating the implementation of action points by the State/ UT Government and also feedback from Startup ecosystem beneficiaries/components (to be picked up randomly from the list of beneficiaries/components that the state itself provides). DIPP has appointed seven dedicated evaluation committees involving members from all relevant departments and reputed players in the ecosystem, for evaluating States’ responses in each area of intervention. The performance of the States will be dynamically presented on the State Startup Ranking dashboard hosted on www.startupindia.gov.in. The overall exercise is expected to be complete with announcement in ranking in June, 2018.
The launch of the ranking framework has galvanized the States into action, thereby giving impetus to the Startup movement across the country. The impact created by this exercise is highlighted below through some of the encouraging responses as submitted by State Governments, which are currently under evaluation:
- Announcement of Startup Policy
- Introduction of specific incentives in State Startup policy for women lead Startups
- Constitution of State Startup nodal team
- Provision of financial support to State Incubators
- Design of guidelines for Seed Funding for Startups
- Launch of State chapters of angel networks
- Hosting discussions/workshops to identify Startups in disruptive technologies
- Conducting State Startup Yatras - a series of boot camps in colleges/ universities to generate ideas.
30-Jan-2019: Government renames DIPP as Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade with a mandate to deal with matters related to start-ups, facilitating ease of doing business among others.
The newly-named department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will look into matters related to promotion of internal trade, including retail trade, welfare of traders and their employees, facilitating ease of doing business and start-ups.
The matters related to internal trade were earlier under the domain of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The President gave his nod to bring internal trade matters under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The move comes amidst a demand by traders’ body CAIT for forming a separate ministry for internal trade.
13-Nov-2018: DIPP hosts Global Digital Content Market 2018
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is hosting a conference on Global Digital Content Market (GDCM) 2018, on14th- 15th November 2018, in New Delhi. The conference will feature sessions on music, film, broadcasting and publishing, as well as collective management, emerging models and the implications for the market and policy makers.
India has been chosen as a host nation for the conference by World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) due to the strong creative industry in the country in films, music and media. The focus for this year’s conference is the Asia Pacific region. The GDCM 2018 will see participation of professionals from various creative fields, the digital industry around the world and delegates of the diplomatic community from Missions to the United Nations.
The aim of GDCM 2018 is to give industry stakeholders a platform to come together and discuss new avenues in the films, music, gaming and creative industry along with points of challenge that is presented due to the changing creative landscape because of the disruption brought about by digital technologies. It is hoped that through the GDCM 2018 an exchange of knowledge, culture and good practices amongst the nations of the Asia Pacific region will take place. GDCM is a platform to discuss vital issues and enhance development of the digital and IP generating industries such as publishing, films, music, and gaming all of which are major contributors to the Indian GDP. The presence of key stakeholders from India in GDCM will place it on the global digital stage.
GDCM 2018 is the second edition of the conference. The first conference was held in Geneva 2016. Mr. Francis Gurry, the Director General of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, said that the aim of WIPO is to ensure that a creative artist continues to be protected and receives better remuneration on the digital platform. He appreciated India’s efforts of integration with international systems through the National IPR policy 2016 under which the Government of India has taken efforts for creating an environment in the country that is conducive for the generation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) by increasing awareness among the citizens on the subject and strengthening IPR enforcement mechanisms.
India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index 2018 has improved by 24 places from that of 2015 and now ranks 57th. India is the top-ranked economy in Central and Southern Asia and has now outperformed on innovation relative to its GDP per capita for seven years in a row.
To better equip the enforcement agencies to deal with IP related crimes 33 enforcement training programmes have already been conducted in 9 states in order to train police, customs and the judiciary for tackling cases on IP. Government has also pulled down 80 rogue websites to combat online piracy. India has recently approved accession to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) that has increased the coverage of protection of copyrights in the international IP regime as it is extended to even the internet and digital environment. This will bring the Indian creative industry under and international copyright system, secure distribution of their work and provide them with a level playing field.
Secretary DIPP also informed that large scale augmentation of man power of Indian IP offices has been done which has brought down pendency of IP applications. Trademark registration has increased by leaps and bounds and patent applications have quadrupled in 2017-18 as compared to 2015-16. These efforts are being made to ensure that the country moves towards realizing the goals of Creative India; Innovative India.
10-Jul-2018: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana Top Rankers in Ease of Doing Business
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, released the final rankings of States in Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi. The top rankers are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana. Jharkhand and Gujarat stood fourth and fifth respectively.
DIPP, Ministry of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the World Bank conducted an annual reform exercise for all States and UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). The aim of this exercise is to improve delivery of various Central Government regulatory functions and services in an efficient, effective and transparent manner.
The reform plan has expanded from 285 to 372 action points till 2017. States and UTs have conducted reforms to ease their regulations and systems in areas such as labour, environmental clearances, single window system, construction permits, contract enforcement, registering property and inspections. States and UTs have also enacted Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act to enforce the timelines on registrations and approvals.
The current assessment under the BRAP 2017 is based on a combined score consisting of Reform evidence score that is based on evidences uploaded by the States and UTs and Feedback score that is based on the feedback garnered from the actual users of the services provided to the businesses.
It is for the first time that DIPP has introduced taking feedback to ensure that the reforms have actually reached ground level. The feedback was collected through face-to-face interviews of actual users selected from more than 50,000 users of the services provided by the State and UT governments.78 reforms out of 372 were identified for the survey. More than 5,000 private sector users in 23 States and UTs, including 4,300 businesses and 800 architects, lawyers and electrical contractors from across the country shared their experience.
DIPP organised numerous outreach programmes including 30 workshops and periodic video conferences with States and UTs. Another practice introduced in the current reform exercise was handholding support provided by the higher scoring States. DIPP identified partner States to mentor another State and UT to facilitate implementation of reforms in States and UTs needing support. Telangana and West Bengal held extensive workshops to support Tripura and Nagaland respectively. Additionally, States have also provided their systems developed to other states so that everyone can benefit from this reform exercise.
The State reform exercise under Ease of Doing Business in India is creating a lot of interest in other countries like Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia which proves that such reforms are imperative for improving the business and regulatory environment.
DIPP has already shared proposed reforms for the next year with the State and UT Governments. As systems developed in last three years have matured during the existing assessment cycles and the importance of the feedback from the users and success of obtaining user feedback in BRAP, 2017 has been proved, the next year’s assessment will be entirely based on user feedback.
15-May-2018: 30 States and Union Territories participate in State Startup Ranking Framework 2018
With the aim to foster competitiveness and to propel the States and Union Territories to work proactively towards promotion of their Startup eco-systems, the States Startup Ranking Framework was launched by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on 6th February 2018. This was also targeted at facilitating States/UTs to identify, learn and replicate good practices from each other and for bringing to fore, their own progress in the regard.
As a run-up to this, DIPP actively engaged with State and UT Governments over the past several weeks to help them prepare and participate in the States Startup Ranking exercise. Two rounds of video conferences were organised by DIPP with all the States and UTs in the month of March and April 2018. A dedicated team from DIPP also visited all States and UTs to conduct ranking awareness and capacity building workshop. In order to provide exposure to State/UT officials about the process of developing Startup ecosystem in their respective regions, 3 knowledge exchange workshops were conducted at leading incubators in the country. The workshops were organised at T-Hub, Hyderabad on 9th April, 2018, iCreate, Ahmedabad on 11th April, 2018 and Sunrise Incubation Tower, Vishakhapatnam on 16th April, 2018. There was a lot of enthusiasm shown by the States and Union Territories in these workshops which were attended in large numbers.
States and UTs have participated enthusiastically in this first ever State Startup Ranking exercise. A total of 30 States and UTs have participated in this exercise whose last date for submission of documents was 30th April. It is encouraging to note enthusiastic participation from majority of north-eastern and hill States as well, where the Startup ecosystem is still nascent.
The participating States and UTs shall now be evaluated on a score of 100, against 38 action points categorized into 7 areas of intervention such as Startup Policy and implementation, Incubation support, Seed Funding, Angel and Venture Funding, Simplification of Regulations, Easing Public Procurement and Awareness & Outreach. In order to evaluate States/UTs in a balanced and transparent manner, the assessment will be based on the aggregate score of the documentary proofs substantiating the implementation of action points by the State/ UT Government and also feedback from Startup ecosystem beneficiaries/components (to be picked up randomly from the list of beneficiaries/components that the state itself provides). DIPP has appointed seven dedicated evaluation committees involving members from all relevant departments and reputed players in the ecosystem, for evaluating States’ responses in each area of intervention. The performance of the States will be dynamically presented on the State Startup Ranking dashboard hosted on www.startupindia.gov.in. The overall exercise is expected to be complete with announcement in ranking in June, 2018.
The launch of the ranking framework has galvanized the States into action, thereby giving impetus to the Startup movement across the country. The impact created by this exercise is highlighted below through some of the encouraging responses as submitted by State Governments, which are currently under evaluation:
- Announcement of Startup Policy
- Introduction of specific incentives in State Startup policy for women lead Startups
- Constitution of State Startup nodal team
- Provision of financial support to State Incubators
- Design of guidelines for Seed Funding for Startups
- Launch of State chapters of angel networks
- Hosting discussions/workshops to identify Startups in disruptive technologies
- Conducting State Startup Yatras - a series of boot camps in colleges/ universities to generate ideas.
30-Oct-2017: MHA gives a boost to “Make in India” in the field of manufacturing of arms
The Ministry of Home Affairs has liberalised the Arms Rules to boost “Make in India” manufacturing policy of the Government as also to promote employment generation in the field of manufacturing of arms and ammunition.
The liberalisation of the Arms Rules will encourage investment in the manufacturing of arms and ammunition and weapon systems as part of the “Make in India” programme. The liberalised rules are expected to encourage the manufacturing activity and facilitate availability of world class weapons to meet the requirement of Armed Forces and Police Forces in sync with country’s defence indigenization programme. The liberalised rules will apply to licences granted by MHA for small arms & ammunition and licences granted by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under powers delegated to them, for tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, defence aircrafts, space crafts, warships of all kinds, arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment other than small arms.
The salient features of the liberalised rules are:
(i) The licence granted for manufacturing shall now be valid for the life-time of the licensee company. The requirement of renewal of the license after every 5 years has been done away with.
(ii) Similarly, condition that the small arms and light weapons produced by manufacturer shall be sold to the Central Government or the State Governments with the prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs has been done away with.
(iii) Further, enhancement of capacity up to 15% of the quantity approved under licence will not require any further approval by the Government. The manufacturer will be required to give only prior intimation to the licensing authority in this regard.
(iv) The licence fee has been reduced significantly. Earlier the licence fee was Rs. 500/- per firearm which added up to very large sums and was a deterrent to seeking manufacturing licenses. The licence fee will now range from Rs. 5,000/- to the maximum of Rs. 50,000/-.
(v) The fee for manufacturing licence shall be payable at the time of grant of license rather than at the time of application.
(vi) Single manufacturing licence will be allowed for a multi-unit facility within the same State or in different States within the country.
A notification for the Arms (Amendment) Rules, 2017 has been issued by MHA on October 27, 2017.
8-May-2017: DIPP & WIPO to set up Technology and Innovation Support Centers
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)have signed an agreement to establish Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC).
WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC) program provides innovators in developing countries with access to locally based, high quality technology information and related services, helping them to exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect, and manage their intellectual property (IP) rights.
Services offered by TISCs may include:
- Access to online patent and non-patent (scientific and technical) resources and IP-related publications;
- Assistance in searching and retrieving technology information;
- Training in database search;
- On-demand searches (novelty, state-of-the-art and infringement);
- Monitoring technology and competitors;
- Basic information on industrial property laws, management and strategy, and technology commercialization and marketing.
The Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) is designated as the National Focal point for the TISC national network. As the national focal point, CIPAM shall identify potential host institutions, assess their capacities and support them in joining the TISC project. CIPAM will also act as the main intermediary between WIPO and TISC host institutions and coordinate all the activities of the national TISC network.
Over 500TISCs operate worldwide and establishing TISC in India will give the host institutions access to the Global network. In upcoming years CIPAM is planning to establish TISC’s in Universities, State Science Councils, R&D institutions etc. TISC will give an impetus to Knowledge sharing, sharing of best practices among the TISC’s, capacity building, generation and commercialization of IPs
