Govt’s Startup India Initiative Empowers Innovation and Investment Ecosystem

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 13th Feb. The Government’s commitment to fostering innovation and encouraging investments culminated in the launch of the Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016. Designed to create a robust ecosystem for nurturing startups, the initiative unveiled an Action Plan comprising 19 action items spanning simplification and handholding, funding support and incentives, and industry-academia partnership and incubation.

Central to the Action Plan are three flagship schemes: the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), each tailored to support startups at various stages of their business cycle.

Under the Startup India initiative, the SISFS provides financial assistance to seed-stage startups through incubators, with a corpus of Rs. 945 crore. Notably, for Tamil Nadu, 20 incubators have been approved, with Rs. 43.63 crore disbursed to approved incubators as of December 31, 2023.

The FFS, operationalized by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), aims to catalyze venture capital investments with a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore. For Tamil Nadu, SIDBI has committed Rs. 500 crore to 6 AIFs, with Rs. 384 crore disbursed to AIFs as of December 31, 2023.

Additionally, the CGSS facilitates collateral-free loans to DPIIT-recognized startups through eligible financial institutions, operationalized by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) Limited. In Tamil Nadu, 5 loans totaling Rs. 8.65 crore have been disbursed to eligible recognized startups as of December 31, 2023.

The concerted efforts under the Startup India initiative have yielded significant results, with the number of DPIIT-recognized startups surging from over 300 in 2016 to 1,17,254 by December 31, 2023. Specifically, Tamil Nadu boasts 7,559 DPIIT-recognized startups as of the same date.

These initiatives, underscored by inclusive approaches, extend across states, union territories, cities, towns, and rural areas, reflecting the government’s commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide.

This update was provided by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.