The official figures government tabled in Parliament earlier this week show that the Startup India portal received a total of 728 applications till Monday (the notification defining startups was published on Feb. 17, 2016).
Of these, it categorised 180 applicants as startups (whose applications were found to be complete), but found that only 16 applicants had been incorporated after April 1, 2016, the cut off date stipulated in the Finance Act 2016 for consideration for tax benefits.
The Finance Act provided income tax exemption for 3 years in a block of 5 years for the startups (Companies and LLPs) incorporated between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2019 and certified as eligible by the Inter-Ministerial Board. In its meeting held on June 28, 2016, the Board recommended the tax benefits for just one of the three applications put up to it for consideration.
[Source: www.thehindu.com]