India's National Innovation Council launches $792m fund
India's National Innovation Council (NIC) and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MMSME) have together launched a new venture fund targeting INR50 billion ($792 million).
According to a release, the so-called India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) will invest in ventures that are scalable and profitable but also address the needs of the under privileged in areas such as healthcare, food, agriculture, education, energy, sanitation and finance.
The fund will be registered under Securities and Exchange Board of India's alternative investment fund guidelines and will have an initial corpus of INR5 billion. The MMSME will provide 20%, or INR 1 billion, with the balance provided by banks, insurance companies and overseas financial and development institutions.
Fund management will be entrusted to an asset management company set up as a non-profit company. The fund will also look to partner with incubators, angel groups, and public R&D programmes and laboratories to support the commercialization of "socially relevant innovative technologies."
"The needs of the people at the base of the economic pyramid are today served by philanthropy and government grants or subsidies which can never be either adequate or scalable," said Sam Pitroda, chairman of NIC and advisor to the prime minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation. "IIIF seeks to leverage the model of venture capital to transform the lives of the less privileged".
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