₹1,000-cr Startup India Seed Fund from April 1

Start-ups and incubators can apply online for support under the ₹1,000-crore Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) which would become operational from April 1, according to Anil Agrawal, Joint Secretary at the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Commerce Ministry.

Grants, debentures

Start-ups can avail up to ₹70 lakh and incubators would get up to ₹5 crore as grant and if they are able to spend this in three years, they would get another ₹5 crore, Agrawal said while participating in a virtual workshop organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and CII on Thursday. The fund was recently notified by the government.

He said incubators would be able to give a start-up up to ₹20 lakh as grant and at stage of commercialisation an additional ₹50 lakh which can be convertible debentures. In addition, the incubators would get 5 per cent as management fee, he said.

Opening the workshop, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said “We are thrilled to receive several proposals from industry and start-ups. These proposals reflect true ambitions of young innovative minds looking to make a mark in the space domain.”

Space-tech incubators

ISRO has already set up three space technology incubation centres and three more are on the anvil. It has started a new programme called Space Enterprise Encouragement and Development for supporting promising small business concerns and start-ups interested in developing products and services in the areas of interest for ISRO, he said. Similarly, ISRO has already signed or in the process of signing MoUs with three startups in space sector – Agnikul, Skyroot and Pixxel, Sivan said.