Sitharaman Announces Rs 10k Cr Startup Fund

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced another round of Fund of Funds for Startups scheme with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to promote growth of budding entrepreneurs.

The announcement assumes significance as the government is focusing on promoting innovation through startups.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognised over 1.5 lakh startups so far.

An action plan for Startup India was unveiled on January 16, 2016.

In the same year, Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme was launched with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, to meet the funding needs of startups.

DPIIT is the monitoring agency and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS.

The total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore was envisaged to be provided over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles based on progress of the scheme and availability of funds.

It has not only made capital available for startups at early stage, seed stage and growth stage but also played a catalytic role in terms of facilitating raising domestic capital, reducing dependence on foreign capital and encouraging home- grown and new venture capital funds.