Aimed at helping growing startups in India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), on Wednesday, announced the Startup Accelerator for Product Innovation, Development & Growth (SAMRIDH) programme.
The concept of the SAMRIDH has been developed on the lines of silicon valley based accelerator YCombinator, Ministry of Electronics and IT special secretary Jyoti Arora said.
The government plans to support 300 IT start-ups under which it will provide seed funding, mentorship and market access with a view to creating 100 unicorns out of the selected start-ups.
Under the programme, Meity will provide seed funds of up to Rs 40 lakh for the selected start-ups and mentorship for six months.
IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that he has mentored over 20 start-ups earlier and understands the need of mentoring them during the most important part of their journey when their idea is getting converted into products.
"Lack of funds for start-ups is not a big issue. Lack of getting the idea into a real product or lack of collecting the skill sets which are needed to convert an idea into an enterprise is a bigger challenge for most of the start-ups," Vaishnaw said.
"As we all know more than 50% of startups are not able to cross this bridge due to various reasons," said the Minister.
The minister also said that the government wants to scale up the networks of incubators and startups to 10x, 20x and more.
Accelerators who have been in the incubation business for at least 3-years and supported more than 50 startups, with at least 10 having a non-public business will be able to apply for the scheme. They must also have operations in India and the necessary space and infrastructure to be eligible.
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(Published 25 August 2021, 14:09 IST)
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