Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

06-December-2012 17:41 IST

The Government proposes to set aside an Innovation Fund for inclusive economic growth. The fund is to be targeted at the bottom of socio-economic pyramid, and directed at benefitting India’s common citizen, particularly in rural areas who do not have all basic services. The fund will help innovative Indian enterprises in developing innovative solutions to meet the development challenges. The fund shall have minimum size of Rs. 500 crore which can be scaled upto Rs. 5000 crore. Government of India would contribute Rs. 100 crore initially.

Government of Indian would contribute Rs. 100 crore. Balance would be from scheduled banks, insurance companies, financial institutions, corporates, High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) as well as bilateral/multilateral institutions.

Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) shall create a trust called the National Innovation Fund Trust, which shall release funds for the above purpose as well as receive back the funds/returns from the above investment.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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DSM/RS/bs

Innovation Fund for inclusive growth to finance innovations for the socio-economic bottom, managed through a national innovation trust. Creation of an Innovation Fund to finance enterprises developing innovations for underserved populations, targeting the socio-economic bottom and rural areas. The fund will have a scalable corpus with an initial government contribution and additional capital mobilised from banks, insurers, financial institutions, corporates, high-net-worth individuals, and multilateral partners. The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises will set up the National Innovation Fund Trust to disburse funds and receive returns from investments.