In a bid to promote innovation and development of the start-ups in the country, the central government's department of electronics and information technology is planning to set up a Rs.10,000 crore fund, a top official said Thursday.
According to Electronics and Information Secretary R.S. Sharma, his department is coming up with an "Electronics Development Fund" and looking at collaborations with venture capitalists (VC) post which it will identify the start-up companies where the fund will be made available.
"We will look to pick-up between 15 to 20 percent stake in a VC or some of the VCs," Sharma told media persons on the sidelines of Infocomm 2014.
He clarified that the investments will not be made directly by the department, but by the VCs where the department will have a stake. However, it is yet to finalise the list and identify the VCs for the collaboration.
The department will also be appointing an external agency which will select, screen and finalise these VCs.
He, however, said the details of the fund and how it will be allotted through the central government are yet to be decided upon.
According to Sharma, there is a persistent need to lay stress on domestic production and reduce the import bill.
"Now the electronics import bill is $100 billion. This will go up to $400 billion by 2020," he said at the event.
