SIDBI Fund Of Funds For Start-Ups

Small Industries Development Bank of India (“SIDBI”), the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), organized an Investor Connect event on December 17, 2022, in Mumbai in which over 150 representatives of various Alternative Investment Funds, Commercial Banks and NBFCs were present. The event was organized to disseminate information about the Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) and the newly launched Credit Guarantee Scheme for Start-ups (CGSS).

Shri Subramanian Ramann, CMD, SIDBI set the context of the event and said, “The event has been organized to provide a platform for the AIFs to interact on one-to-one basis with the dignitaries from Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, GoI and officials of SIDBI. As declared by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, this decade is being called the ‘Techade of India’. We feel that the Start-up ecosystem shall fulfill the vision of Hon’ble PM and help India achieve its goal of $5 trillion economy by 2025.” He further acknowledged the robust structure that has emerged via Venture Investment in order to reach the Start – ups.

Smt. Shruti Singh, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, in her opening remarks appreciated the progress made by FFS in acting as a multiplier in raising much needed capital for the Start-ups. She mentioned that the number of Start-ups has grown from 452 in 2016 to 84,012 as on November 2022. This significant rise in the number of start-ups coincides with the implementation of Start-up India Action Plan. FFS and CGSS are a part of the same.

Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT interacted virtually with the participating representatives and sought their suggestions on making these two schemes even more successful. He mentioned that India has taken over the Presidency of G20 this year and makes the chances of developing a Global Digital Infrastructure much more promising with the mega success of Adhaar, UPI and CoWIN platforms, The new tech Start-ups are working towards this end. Thanks to the exemplary success of ‘Digital India’, India is ready to demonstrate the power of an inclusive citizen-centric innovation framework to the world.