Sidbi keen on coming out with venture debt scheme, says CMD S Ramann

Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) is looking at launching a venture debt scheme, its Chairman and Managing Director S Ramann said on Thursday.

"Sidbi is very keen on coming out with a venture debt scheme," Ramann said at an event organised by Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association.

He also said some action from the government in terms of working towards a corpus that can go into venture debt will be seen soon.

The development finance institution is also ready to partner with a host of players to be able to bring in venture debt for these companies, Ramann added.

He said the Fund of Funds for Start-ups (FFS) is an equity scheme and it is now being followed by a venture debt scheme where Sidbi will be able to offer venture debt to companies.

In January 2016, FFS was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in line with the Start-up India action plan.

It has approved a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore for contribution to various Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) registered with Sebi.

Introduced with the objective of supporting development and growth of innovation driven enterprises, FFS facilitates funding needs for startups through participation in capital of Sebi-registered AIFs.

AIFs supported under FFS shall invest at least twice the contribution out of FFS in startups as defined by the government under 'Startup India, Standup India' scheme.

As of January 25, 2022, a commitment of Rs 6,494.45 crore has been made to 80 AIFs.

Under FFS, Rs 8,289.79 crore has been invested in startups by AIFs, as per information available on Sidbi's website.