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Kerala intends to draw up a scheme for start-ups looking for a second round of funding once they graduate from incubation centres.
Currently, state-owned Kerala Financial Corporation offers a collateral free loan of a maximum of ₹20 lakh to start-ups.
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy made this announcement at the Leaders’ meet hosted by GTech (Group of Technology Companies), an industry body of IT companies in Kerala.
He also said that the government will focus more on ensuring adequate support to enterprises to promote sustainable entrepreneurship.
This would jell with initiative to promote an entrepreneurial friendly eco-system in the state.
The government would also consider allocating a marketing corpus of ₹5 crore to support SMEs for sustainable business development activities.
“Almost 80 per cent of IT companies in Kerala belong to the SME sector, collectively employing over 25,000 people.
GLOBAL EXPOSURE
“Such companies have the potential to grow, but do not the resources for a sustained business development campaign overseas.”
Anoop P Ambika, Secretary, GTech, said that its ‘Global IT Connect’’ has been sending trade delegations abroad.
This has proven to be highly successful in giving global exposure to budding entrepreneurs, start-up companies and companies in the SME segment.
“However, the lack of a dedicated fund is an impediment in continuing this initiative”, he said.
Meanwhile, GTech has sought an outlay of ₹1,200 crore for the industry in the forthcoming State Budget. This compares with ₹300 crore allocated in the previous one.
BUDGET ALLOCATION
Explaining, VK Mathews, Chairman, GTech, said that the industry provides huge employment opportunities for the youth of the state.
The ecosystem needs to be scaled up and e-governance strengthened to widen the industrial base.
Therefore it is important that the government allocates a higher amount for IT in the forthcoming state budget.
“The industry would be disappointed if the outlay is less than two per cent of the total budget,” Mathews said.
The GTech also took up with Chandy issues of social infrastructure development and the need for more effective mass transit systems in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
GTech Vice-Chairman Alexander Varghese, Treasurer Bysakh Bhasi, CEO Renjith Ramanujam, and Technopark CEO KG Girish Babu were present.
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