Rs 75-cr fund planned for ICT startups

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), in collaboration with the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB), is launching a Rs 75-crore fund to accelerate the progress of start-up companies in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, especially product firms.

While the fund would be set up by the DSIR specifically to meet the investment needs of the start-up product companies under the Eleventh Plan, ISB would manage it.

This will be the first-ever public-private partnership of its kind. A formal announcement to this effect is expected to be made by the Ministry of Science and Technology in February or March next year, according to AS Rao, adviser, DSIR. Rao said the move was aimed at bringing more and more product-based companies on to the market place.

ISB dean Rammohan Rao informed about the ISB's role in managing the fund at the inaugural session of the two-day TiE-ISB Connect 2007, an annual event that brings business ideas and venture capitalists on to a single platform.