Startup India – 75 Startups received Rs 337 crore in funding till date - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 21, 2017
Against the plan of providing Rs 2500 crore every year for startup funding, government has released Rs 600 crore in two years. Till date, 75 startups have received a funding of Rs 337 crore under the Startup India initiative.
The action plan for Government of India’s flagship initiative, Startup India, was announced in January 2016. Among other things, the action plan outlines setting up of a fund for providing funding support to startups. The fund was to be set up with an initial corpus of Rs 2,500 crore and a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore over a period 4 years (i.e. Rs 2,500 crore per year). But the information shared by the government in the Rajya Sabha reveals that only Rs 600 crore has been released by the government so far for this purpose.
The Startup India Initiative
The initiative was launched with a view to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and startups in the country. The initiative aims to empower startups to grow through innovation and design.
A startup is defined as the one that
Once the startup registers on the portal, it is granted recognition based on the information submitted and other eligibility criteria. Recognized startups will be eligible for a host of benefits like
What is the current status?
As per information shared by the government in the Rajya Sabha, following is the current status of various plans under the Startup India initiative as of 1 December 2017.
Number of recognized Startups: Government mentioned that 5350 startups have been recognized till 01 December 2017. The number has now increased to more than 5800. The government also mentioned that at least 40000 people are employed in these recognized startups.
Funding Support: The government’s idea for funding was to be in the nature of Fund of Funds, which means that it will not invest directly into Startups, but shall participate in the capital of SEBI registered Venture Funds. Under the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS),
The amount released by the government (Rs 600 crore in 2 years) and subsequent funding to startups is a far cry from the government’s initial commitment of Rs 2500 crore every year.  Even the 2017-18 budget has a meagre allocation of Rs 10 crore for Startup India and an allocation of Rs 1 lakh for FFS.
Other Benefits: Government data shows that the following other benefits have been availed by the startups.
The information shared by the government also mentioned that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) spent Rs 2.7 crore in 2015-16, Rs 4.8 crore 2016-17 and Rs 13.2 crore in 2017-18 on the initiative.