Centre looks to set up Rs 10,000 cr fund for electronics, IT start-ups

The Department of Electronics and IT, DeitY, is planning to set up a Rs 10,000 crore corpus to fund various start-ups.

Electronics and IT start-ups will be preferred.

According to RS Sharma, Union Secretary, DeitY, the department will look to pick up stake in one or some of the venture capital firms through this "Electronics Development Fund" that it is planning to set up.

"We will look to pick up between 15 and 20 per cent stake in a VC or some of the VCs. We are yet to finalise the list of VCs," he told reporters on the sidelines of Infocom 2014.

Infocom is an annual IT event organised in the city.

According to Sharma, guidelines are likely to be in place over the next two to three months.

"We will not be investing directly in these start-ups. Investments will be done through these VCs in which we have a stake," he said.

The VCs can be Indian or foreign ones.

DietY will appoint an external agency which will select, screen and finalise these VCs where the investments can be made.

"We will have some guidelines which will help the agency select the VCs," he added.

Sharma, however, said the details of the fund and how it will be allotted through the Centre are yet to be decided upon.

New IT policy

Meanwhile, the Centre will soon come out with a new IT policy that will lay stress on development of new states and cities as probable IT hubs.

Focus will be on the eastern region in particular.

Sops and incentives will be provided to these IT and IT-enabled service companies who set-up shops in these cities.

The focus of the policy will be to make-up for the regional imbalances and promoted these new cities as future IT destinations.

"We are working on the guidelines of this IT policy with special focus on the eastern region. We will look to overcome the regional imbalances that have come up because of lopsided IT development in some select cities," Sharma added.

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