Government of India has established Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), to meet their funding needs. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government of India, is the monitoring agency and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS. Direct funding support to startups is not envisaged under Startup India Programme.

As per the operating guidelines issued by DIPP, FFS contributes to the corpus of SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). These AIFs in turn have to invest at least twice the contribution under FFS in startups. Each AIF sets up its own investment committee and the investment committee of each Fund takes a decision on its investment decisions. The AIFs under FFS have supported 142 startups as on June 30, 2018.

A formal mechanism has been put in place in the form of a Monitoring Committee to review progress of Startup India programme on a regular basis. The Monitoring Committee comprises representatives from DIPP, NITI Aayog, Department of Revenue (Ministry of Finance), Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Bio-Technology, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Higher Education and SIDBI. The Monitoring Committee continuously reviews progress and implementation of various measures for growth of startup ecosystem.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, C. R. Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Fund of Funds for Startups: support routed through AIFs requiring matched investment, with operating agency oversight. The Fund of Funds for Startups contributes to the corpus of SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds, which must invest at least twice the FFS contribution into startups; each AIF makes investment decisions through its own investment committee. A Monitoring Committee comprising representatives of the monitoring and operating agencies and relevant departments reviews progress and implementation of Startup India measures to support the startup ecosystem.