Modi government launches IAF and SMILE to give big boost to startups

By NewsGram Staff-Writer

Mumbai: On Tuesday, Modi government launched the India Aspiration Fund (IAF) that will give a big boost to startup initiatives across the country. The Finance Minister, Arun Jaitely, launched the IAF under the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) that will act as a fund of the funds.

The government has already set aside an initial corpus of Rs 400 crore to various venture funds under it, according to a report published in Economic Times.

The IAF is supposed to have committed around Rs 60 Crore, Rs 30 Crore, and Rs 20 Crore to IvyCap Ventures, Blume Ventures, and Carpediem Capital Partners respectively.

ET report quotes Arun Jaitely as saying: "India is witnessing a startup revolution and to harness the potential of India's innovators and entrepreneurs a vibrant financial ecosystem is essential. IAF will play a vital role in this financial ecosystem."

As the IAF fund follows sectoral allocation of funds, it is likely to provide a big boost in the form of investment to even those sectors that are not hot today for venture funds.

Arun Jaitely also launched SMILE, the "SIDBI Make in India Loan for Small Enterprises" scheme with an allocation of around Rs 10,000 crore. The scheme aims to provide soft loans as well as term loans on relatively soft terms to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), according to the ET report.