Preferential policies boost business startup

China's business startups experienced vigorous growth this year as the government began easing institutional barriers standing in the way of entrepreneurship.

Together with his friends, Zhang Yonghui launched a construction engineering company in Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong Province in March. Zhang said he was lucky that the company was founded weeks after the government's simplification of the business registration process.

"From applying to receiving the operating license, it just took four days, comparing with three months when I registered another company three years ago," he said.

"Three years ago, I spent more than 10,000 yuan (1,609.8 U.S. dollars) to hire an agent to help with the registration procedure because it was too sophisticated. This time, I did the job all by myself," he said. "Much of the procedure could be finished online and the number of forms to be filled was reduced by half."

In an effort to make the market more accessible and invigorate social investment, the State Council approved a plan in February to reform business registration in order to ease market access.

The plan vows to scrap previous requirements on minimum registered capital for startups and simplify complicated approval procedures. It came into effect on March 1.

"I went through an extremely hard time three years ago when I was struggling to raise 100,000 yuan's registered capital," Zhang Yonghui said. "The lowering of the registration threshold is such a bliss for those who start empty-handed."

The reform has stirred up a startup boom in China.

The number of enterprises newly registered from March to August this year grew 60 percent from the same period last year. In 2013, there was a 30 percent year-on-year growth, according to Gu Shengzu, vice chairman of Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress.

Statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce(SAIC) show there were 2.648 million newly established enterprises registered during the first three quarters with a total registered assets of 13.42 trillion yuan, up by 52.44 percent and 99.76 percent respectively from the same period last year.

According to data released by the SAIC, the new rules have injected vitality into the private sector in particular. In November alone, more than 350,000 new firms were established, of which nearly 95 percent were private companies.

The startup boom has also caught the attention of college grads, with an increasing number seeing starting their own company as the way to go upon finishing school.

A survey of around 1,000 Shanghai college students graduating next year found 6.8 percent of them plan to start their own business, compared to 1.3 percent of the students who graduated in 2014.

In addition to government support policies, China's rapidly developing Internet technology also aroused the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs.

Statistics from the SAIC show there were 103,600 information technology and Internet-related companies registered during the first three quarters, a 98.5 percent increase from the same period last year.

Experts suggest that although they are in a favorable environment, entrepreneurs, especially those in the Internet sector, should improve their ability to innovate to avoid a short-lived business.

Zhang Chenghui, director of the Research Institute of Finance under the Development Research Center of the State Council, said, innovation is key to the startup businesses, for it can help the enterprises improve their competitiveness and realize industrial upgrading.

Ma Weihua, board chairman of Wing Lung Bank of Hong Kong, suggested financing institutions should innovate direct financing products and lower the credit approval standard to aid the development of small businesses.