Aiming to encourage budding entrepreneurs, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) will be setting up an angel funding with a corpus of Rs 10 crore for innovative startups this year, a top official today said.
The angel funding would be extended to any innovative project -- IT, bio-technology, agriculture or any other sector, KSIDC Chairperson Aruna Sundararajan told reporters on the sidelines of the Kochi edition of the Nasscom Product Conclave (South), which she inaugurated here.
The maximum seed capital will be Rs 25 lakh for projects, she said.
The Nasscom Product Council is focussing to provide a platform for Indian start-ups and emerging companies to access the support available in the ecosystem to build their market, create performing teams and secure funding from investors, chairman Nasscom Product Council, Ravi Gururaj, said.
This was an apt time to be a Product Entrepreneur in India with the buzz in domestic and global markets, he said.
NASSCOM was of the firm belief that the contribution made by product companies will grow manifolds resulting in a revolution in the landscape in terms of business stability, revenue growth and further innovation, he said.
V K Mathews, Chairman, NASSCOM Kerala Regional Council and EC Member & Executive Chairman, IBS Group, said, with the new Government in place, there was optimism about addressing long pending pleas of the IT industry.
On the IT front, one of the most important priorities for the nation and particularly for Kerala was to promote the IT industry countrywide, ensuring inclusive growth.
Today, over 90 per cent of the IT output comes from 7 metros, with hardly any contribution from the 56 Tier-2/3 cities of the country.
Government can address this effectively by one policy change, which is by continuing the STPI export tax benefits to companies operating in Tier-2/3 cities, thus motivating IT companies to plan their growth in smaller cities. This will reduce the digital divide, improve inclusiveness and also serve to decongest the metro cities, he said.
There will hardly be any tax loss to the Government due to this policy as there is no IT industry in these cities in the first place, he said.
