New Delhi, Feb 1 (UNI) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a new Fund of Funds for startups to promote entrepreneurship with a fresh contribution of Rs 10,000 crore.
Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, Sitharaman said, "The Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs) for startups have received commitments of more than Rs 91,000 crore. These are supported by the Fund of Funds set up with a Government contribution of Rs 10,000 crore".
She said: "Now, a new Fund of Funds, with expanded scope and a fresh contribution of another Rs 10,000 crore will be set up".
A new scheme was also announced to benefit five lakh women and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe first-time entrepreneurs.
The scheme will provide term loans up to Rs 2 crore during the next five years.
"The scheme will incorporate lessons from the successful Stand-Up India scheme. Online capacity building for entrepreneurship and managerial skills will also be organised," said the FM.
The Centre created the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) Scheme in 2016 with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to provide a much-needed boost to the Indian startup ecosystem and enable access to domestic capital.
Sitharaman announced a "Deep Tech Fund of Funds" which will be explored to catalyse the next generation startups as a part of the initiative.
She also allocated Rs 20,000 crore in the budget to implement a private sector-driven Research, Development and Innovation initiative announced in Budget presented last July.
As part of the initiative, the PM Research Fellowship Scheme will provide 10,000 fellowships over the next five years for technological research in IITs, NITs, and IISc, with enhanced financial support.
The measures underscore the government’s commitment to positioning India as a global leader in deep tech, innovation, and scientific research while strengthening collaboration between academia and the private sector. UNI JA SSP