Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

▪️Why in News

✅Recently, the Government has launched the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS).

✅The Scheme was announced during the ‘Prarambh: StartupIndia International Summit’ which marked the five-year anniversary of the Startup India initiative.

▪️About the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS):

✅Aim: To provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization.

✅Launched by: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with an outlay of Rs. 945 Crore.

✅Some Eligibility Conditions:

A startup, recognized by DPIIT, incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application.

✅Startups should not have received more than Rs. 10 lakh of monetary support under any other Central or State Government scheme.

✅Features:

🔸It will support an estimated 3,600 entrepreneurs through 300 incubators in the next 4 years.

🔸An Experts Advisory Committee (EAC), constituted by DPIIT, will be responsible for the overall execution and monitoring of the Scheme.

🔸Grants of upto Rs. 5 crore will be provided to the eligible incubators selected by the committee.

🔸The selected incubators will provide grants of up to Rs. 20 lakh for validation of proof of concept, or prototype development, or product trials to startups.

🔸Investments of up to Rs. 50 lakh will be provided to the startups for market entry, commercialization, or scaling up through convertible debentures or debt-linked instruments.

✅Expected Benefit:It will help in creating a robust startup ecosystem in Tier 2 and 3 regions, as the smaller towns in India are often not provided with appropriate funding.

▪️About Startup India Initiative:

✅It envisages building a robust Startup ecosystem in the country for nurturing innovation and providing opportunities to budding entrepreneurs. It was launched in 2016.

✅The action plan of this initiative focuses on following three areas:

🔸Simplification and Handholding.

🔸Funding Support and Incentives.

🔸Industry-Academia Partnership and Incubation.

▪️Related Government Initiatives:

✅Startup Innovation Challenges: It is a fantastic opportunity for any startup to leverage their networking and fund-raising efforts.

✅National Startup Awards: It seeks to recognize and reward outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are contributing to economic dynamism by spurring innovation and injecting competition.

✅Ranking of States on Support to Startup Ecosystems: It is an evolved evaluation tool aimed to strengthen the support of States and UTs to holistically build their startup ecosystems.

✅SCO Startup Forum: The first-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Startup Forum was launched in October 2020 to develop and improve startup ecosystems collectively.

✅Prarambh: The ‘Prarambh’ Summit aims to provide a platform to the startups and young minds from around the world to come with new ideas, innovation and invention.

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