Cabinet clears Rs 10,000-cr SME growth fund to build India's next generation of global champions

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) The union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs10,000-crore Government of India commitment to establish the SME Growth Fund (SGF), a major equity-support initiative aimed at providing long-term growth capital to promising small and medium enterprises and nurturing a new generation of globally competitive Indian companies.

Announcing the decision after the Cabinet meeting, union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said the initiative was part of the broader measures outlined in the union Budget 2026-27 to strengthen the MSME ecosystem by improving access to equity, liquidity and professional support. "The SME Growth Fund is aimed at catalysing growth-oriented capital for India's Small and Medium Enterprises and enabling the emergence of champion Indian enterprises," Vaishnaw said, underlining the Government's objective of supporting businesses across manufacturing, services, technology, innovation-driven sectors and strategic value chains. The Cabinet decision gives effect to Para 28 of the union Budget 2026-27 and seeks to address a structural gap in the availability of growth-stage equity for SMEs. While several existing funds provide equity support, the Government said such mechanisms have largely focused on early-stage enterprises and predominantly covered micro enterprises, leaving small and medium businesses with relatively limited access to long-term risk capital. Under the approved framework, the Government will make an aggregate commitment of Rs 10,000 crore to an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) established under the SME Growth Fund framework. The fund will provide patient growth equity to enterprises with demonstrated business viability and the potential to scale. The initiative comes against the backdrop of the critical role played by SMEs in India's economy, particularly in employment generation, exports, manufacturing and innovation. Although successive government measures have expanded access to institutional credit, enterprises entering the next stage of growth often require equity capital that can finance expansion without placing additional pressure on their balance sheets. According to the Government, the fund will enable eligible businesses to expand manufacturing capacity, adopt advanced technologies, enter international markets, integrate with global value chains, undertake strategic investments and pursue acquisitions where appropriate. A major focus of the fund will be small and medium manufacturing enterprises, with the majority of the allocation expected to be directed towards manufacturing-oriented businesses. The framework will also consider SMEs operating in industrial clusters in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, linking the equity initiative with the wider objective of promoting more balanced regional industrial development. The geographical focus could have implications beyond individual companies. Investments in smaller cities and industrial clusters are expected to strengthen local supply chains, expand manufacturing ecosystems and create higher-quality employment closer to emerging industrial centres. By providing growth capital at a stage when conventional financing may not fully meet an enterprise's requirements, the initiative is intended to help promising SMEs make the transition into larger and more competitive businesses. The Cabinet decision is also part of the Government's wider policy framework for strengthening the MSME sector through credit-support mechanisms, digitalisation, ease-of-doing-business measures, public procurement reforms, startup promotion initiatives and production-linked incentive programmes. The Government said the initiative would deepen the domestic capital market for growth-stage enterprises while encouraging greater private-sector participation in scaling Indian businesses. It is also expected to support innovation-led industrialisation by giving high-potential enterprises access to capital for technology adoption, capacity expansion and market development. The SME Growth Fund is being positioned as an important instrument in the Government's broader vision of building a stronger and more competitive Indian economy by 2047. The initiative is expected to contribute to employment generation, innovation, industrial expansion and the creation of globally competitive Indian enterprises as part of the vision of Viksit Bharat @ 2047. UNI SKA AAB