Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday announced the Centre’s Start-up India initiative will be moved out of the aegis of the official investment promotion and facilitation agency Invest India, to a new non-profit company that could also house the National Start-up Advisory Council.

“I took a decision a few days back… Let us create a company, under Section 8 [of the Companies Act]… Today, Start-up India is housed in Invest India… Now it is such a powerful ecosystem of its own, [it] should have a house of its own. While the ministry can start the company quickly, SIDBI can also be actively involved in it,” Mr. Goyal said.

The minister also suggested issuing shares in the company to start-ups that become unicorns, as a means of encouragement, and suggested that the new non-profit firm could be operated in a professional and innovative way akin to “bootstrapped start-ups” that steer their operations on tight budgets.

Unveiling a new Bharat Start-up Knowledge Access Registry (BHASKAR), a digital platform for networking, knowledge and resource sharing between startups, Mr. Goyal said the section 8 firm can “start owning these assets of technology”. “That way, it will be nimble, current, industry-led, so you can rightfully say that trade secrets are not let out and different stakeholders are connected. You can also engage with the government on what start-ups need,” he said.