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'Rs 5,500 crore India Innovation Fund to focus on job creation'

Fund will focus on generating employment and supporting livelihoods across the country through innovative enterprises

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Mar 13 2013 | 6:26 PM IST
The government today said the Rs 5,500 crore 'India Inclusive Innovation Fund' will focus on generating employment and supporting livelihoods across the country through innovative enterprises.

"My Ministry is working towards creating a fund, to be called the India Inclusive Innovation Fund, which will help Indian enterprises in developing innovative solutions to developmental challenges," Minister of State (MoS) in Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) K H Muniyappa said in an Assocham event here.

The Fund will be guided by four objectives, to focus on the poor; to combine social and commercial returns; to drive employment and livelihood generation; and to help establish a model for wider inclusive innovation funding, he said.

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The MSME, which has taken the initiative in consultation with the National Innovation Council to set up the fund, had circulated a Cabinet note for consultations to the concerned ministries in this regard in January.

The scheme would promote innovation which is aimed at improving the competitiveness and efficiency of small and medium enterprises.

Of the total fund amount, 20 per cent funding would come from the government and the remaining from banks, financial institutions and multilateral agencies.

The fund would be in two phases. The first tranche will have a corpus of Rs 500 crore and in the second phase the amount would be Rs 5,000 crore.

MSMEs face challenges such as lack of access to finance, non-availability of collaterals and delayed realisation of receivables.

There are over 26 million MSMEs in the country that provide employment to around 60 million people.

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First Published: Mar 13 2013 | 6:25 PM IST

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