Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

Subject : Economy

Section: Fiscal Policy

Context:

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.

The MAARG Portal

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Startup India

Startup India was introduced in 2016 as a call to innovators, entrepreneurs, and thinkers of the nation to lead from the front in driving India’s sustainable growth and create large scale employment opportunities.
The entrepreneurial portal had more than 65,000 startups registered.
Of which, 100 attained the ‘unicorn’ status recently, bringing the total as of date to 90.
India is ranked third among global startup ecosystems.
India’s largest online entrepreneurship platform allows startups to network, access free tools & resources and participate in programs & challenges.