In a bid to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship in the Northeast region primarily by offering support to the first-generation entrepreneurs, Indian government is considering over 60 proposals for start-ups in the zone, and will provide initial funds for such initiatives under a new scheme.
Minister for Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said the Northeast Venture Fund was the first dedicated venture capital fund for the region and that his ministry would offer an additional benefit of providing the initial capital to any youngster planning to set up an enterprise.
According to DoNER Ministry, hundreds of queries were pouring in each day with, and over 60 proposals were already in the pipeline for consideration, reports ET.
The initiative to set up the fund began in April this year after the prime minister announced the “Start-up India, Stand-up India” programme, which includes incentives like tax holiday in the early phase and an exit period of three months.
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Meanwhile, Manipur government led by N Biren Singh also announced that his government has already earmarked a budget of Rs 35 crores under the ‘Startup India’ initiative to encourage local entrepreneurs.
The CM also urged the banks to encourage the local entrepreneurs and start-ups by providing financial assistance for their ventures.
Biren said the ‘Startup India’ campaign launched under the leadership of Prime Minister plans to improve states’ economy, thereby making the states self-reliant. The campaign is also directed at creation of jobs for the unemployed youth of the country, reports TOI
To encourage start-up ventures in the northeast region, the NEDFi (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation) in collaboration with the Ministry of DoNER, had set up the “North East Venture Fund”, a dedicated venture capital fund for the region.
The investment focus of the Venture Fund will be in early and growth stage investments mostly in the fields of IT & ITES, food processing, healthcare, tourism, retail and aggregation of services.
The size of the fund would be Rs 100 crore which would be contributed by M-DoNER (Rs 45 crore) and NEDFi (Rs 30 crore). The balance amount of Rs 25 crore would be raised from other financial institutions.
According to Jitendra Singh, the region had huge potential for young start-ups unlike many other parts of the country and hoped that the unique idea of setting up a dedicated venture fund would make up for the constraints faced by a youngster when he set out to be on his own.
Earlier, Karnataka Government announced that it will include provisions to allow startups to bid for government projects, and has picked up 100 most innovative start-ups after following through a four-layered selection process. The selected startups will get a funding support of about Rs 35 crore from the government to pursue their tech-ideas and scale them up.
NEDFi: Wesbite
