254 startups get Rs 1,700 Cr investment from AFI

As many as 254 startups have received investment to the tune of over Rs 1,700 crore from the SEBI-registered alternative investment funds (AIF), and the Central government has also set up a Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

Goyal said in the Lok Sabha that the FFS with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore will meet the funding needs of startups.

He said the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade 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 is envisaged to be provided over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles based on progress of the scheme and availability of funds. As on July 10, 2019, the SIDBI has committed Rs 3,123.20 crore to 47 SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)," said the Minister.

He added that these funds have raised a corpus fund of Rs 25,728 crore.

"Further, the AIFs have invested a total of Rs 1,701.03 crore into 254 startups out of which Rs 512.57 crore have been drawn from Fund of Funds for Startups," he said.

Earlier this month, the SIDBI introduced a web-based application system for contribution from the FFS. SIDBI has also undertaken various development initiatives to build a vibrant startups ecosystem.

At the time, SIDBI said, "The applications for contribution from various AIFs will now be accepted online and the status of the same shall be accessible to applicants, thereby increasing the transparency in the system."

The development came on the back of the recent Budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, where she emphasised on the need to encourage startups in India.

Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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