Punjab sets up fund to boost start-ups

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SME Times News Bureau | 02 Dec, 2020
To give further impetus to the start-ups in the state, the Punjab Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Wednesday cleared the decks for the establishment of the Punjab Innovation Mission and the Punjab Innovation Fund.

To achieve the objective of Punjab Innovative Mission, a Punjab Innovation Fund of Rs 150 crore is proposed to be set up to invest in early-stage start-ups in the state.

The government's participation in this fund will be a maximum of 10 per cent of the corpus, i.e. Rs 15 crore. This fund will be managed by an asset management company, comprising investors of global repute, and the first chairperson of the mission and the fund would be Clix Capital chairman and Genpact founder Pramod Bhasin.

Bhasin told the virtual Cabinet meeting that he will raise the remaining Rs 135 crore investment from Punjabi business and investors, the diaspora as well as public and private financial institutions.

The Punjab Innovation Mission would go a long way in developing a vibrant innovative ecosystem for entrepreneurship by leveraging capital, policy and technology through collaboration with investors, industry, government, academia and start-ups and by facilitating collaboration amongst the various incubators and accelerators in Punjab, an official spokesperson told the media.

While the mission will be sector agnostic, it will focus on some thrust sectors like agri-tech, food processing, healthcare, pharma, bio-technology, life sciences, information technology, gaming and sports, etc.

The government would support the operation of the Punjab Innovation Mission and Punjab Innovation Fund by providing for the operational expenditure for first three years, amounting to Rs 10 crore.