SBICAP Ventures Ltd (SVL), a subsidiary of the State Bank of India (SBI), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for establishing the Trilateral Development Cooperation Fund (TDC Fund).

The TDC Fund will route India’s commitment of about Rs 175 crore (£17.5 million) to the Global Innovation Development Fund (GIP Fund), according to an SVL statement. The TDC Fund will operate as a ‘Fund of Funds’ under the SEBI AIF Regulations.

The GIP Fund is proposed to be established as an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) under the India-UK Global Innovation Partnership (GIP). 

The GIP Fund will invest mainly in Indian small and medium enterprises that tackle development challenges in line with the goals and objectives of the GIP, and have successfully developed and tested viable social impact innovations that can be transferred and scaled up in third countries.

The GIP Fund will target Indian innovative enterprises that are at an advanced stage but lack access to capital for expansion to other developing countries, SVL said.

SVL will act as the administrator-cum-advisor (Investment Manager) of the TDC Fund and will facilitate the GIP programme for MEA.

In future, MEA could potentially utilise the TDC Fund to contribute to AIFs, similar to the GIP Fund established in partnership with other partner countries under the trilateral development cooperation framework, SVL said.

Sandeep Chakravorty, Joint Secretary (Europe West), MEA, said “MEA is committed to the growth and development of Indian enterprises abroad. Innovative Indian models are now maturing, with learnings from existing markets, and planning to move to new markets. GIP will help expand the footprint of Indian innovations abroad.”

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