• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Anil Sasi

New Delhi, Sept. 18 States are increasingly turning into ‘angel investors’.

A number of State Governments, including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka and Rajasthan, are now actively extending seed capital for new businesses through dedicated venture capital funds, most of which aim at promoting start-ups in new economy sectors such as IT, biotechnology, tourism and retail in their respective States.

Hyderabad Information Technology Venture Enterprises Ltd, a venture capital fund set up by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation in partnership with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), has already invested about Rs 12 crore in seven IT companies from its first fund. Its latest fund has a corpus of Rs 50 crore.

The Kerala Venture Capital Fund is of Rs 20 crore set up by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd and Kerala Financial Corporation in collaboration with SIDBI. The fund is dedicated to investing in enterprises in sectors such as IT, biotechnology and tourism within the State.

The Punjab Infotech Venture Fund is a Rs 20-crore IT-dedicated fund set up by the Punjab Government and SIDBI, while the Karnataka Information Technology Venture Fund is a Rs 15-crore fund set up by the Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation Ltd, Karnataka State Financial Corporation and SIDBI.

The Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund, promoted by Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation and SIDBI as the anchor contributors, has an initial corpus of Rs 46 crore. The fund aims at investing in companies in the IT, biotech, retail and tourism through equity, quasi-equity and debt instruments.

The move by States to set up such funds follows the trend set by GVFL Ltd., formerly Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd, which is regarded as the pioneer of venture capital in India. GVFL Ltd has, since 1990, raised five funds with a cumulative corpus of Rs 136.2 crore and is in the process of raising a dedicated SME Fund.

More Stories on : Venture Capital | States | Investments

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Continuous arrivals keep local wheat prices soft

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line