Chandigarh, Dec. 17 -- The Union ministry of commerce and industry has defended the prolonged delay in the formulation and rollout of the Chandigarh Startup Policy, 2025, stating that the UT administration initially prioritised the national Startup India initiative over framing a separate local policy. Responding to an unstarred question raised by Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, minister of state for commerce and industry Jitin Prasada said that Chandigarh, as a small Union Territory with a compact institutional setup, relied on the national framework in the initial years. He added that with the evolving needs of local startups and repeated Centre's directives urging states and UTs to adopt structured, region-specific startup policies, the administration eventually initiated work on a dedicated policy. The minister told the House that extensive inter-departmental consultations, financial structuring, and stakeholder engagement contributed to the delay, culminating in the formal notification of the policy in April 2025. The question also flagged concerns over the delay in operationalising the policy, utilisation of the earmarked annual corpus of Rs.10 crore for five years, launch of the e-portal, issuance of guidelines, and disbursal of benefits. While acknowledging these issues, the Centre reiterated that execution lies with the UT administration. Expressing dissatisfaction, Tewari said it was disappointing that Chandigarh has only 633 registered startups and no unicorn so far, despite being a major academic and institutional hub with a thriving fourth industrial revolution ecosystem. Under the policy, eligible startups must be DPIIT-recognised and located in Chandigarh. Applications will be examined by the policy monitoring and implementation committee, which is mandated to grant approvals within 15 days but will meet only once every quarter....