Rs 14,077 Cr investments made in 791 startups through FFS, AIFs: MoCI

Investments of Rs 14,077 crore were made in 791 startups through the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) as on December 31, 2022, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash, said, in a reply to a Parliament Question on Friday.

The FFS for startups has committed Rs 7,980 crore to 99 AIFs, and Rs 3,400 crore has been disbursed to 72 AIFs, which have in turn made the investments in the startups, the Minister noted.

The top ten States/UT with the most startups include Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Assam.

Karnataka, with 240 startups, has received investments amounting to Rs 4,687 crore. It is followed by Maharashtra with 176 startups and Rs 3,426 crore investment, and Delhi with 138 startups and Rs 2,254 crore investment.

FFS Scheme was approved and established in 2016 with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to provide a boost to the Indian startup ecosystem and enable access to domestic capital.

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Under FFS, the scheme does not directly invest in startups, but instead provides capital to SEBI-registered AIFs, known as daughter funds, who in turn invest money in growing Indian startups through equity and equity-linked instruments. 

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been given the mandate of operating this Fund through a selection of suitable daughter funds, and overseeing the disbursal of committed capital. 

AIFs supported under FFS are required to invest at least two times the amount committed under FFS in startups.

Under the Startup India Initiative, the Government is undertaking various efforts for the development and growth of the startup ecosystem in the country. Flagship schemes supporting the startups include FFS, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), and Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups.

SISFS was approved with a corpus of Rs 945 crore for the period of four years starting from 2021-22. Under SISFS, Rs 477.25 crore has been approved to 133 incubators of which Rs 211.63 crore has been disbursed as on December 31, 2022, the Minister said on Friday.