Tamil Nadu Announces Incentives For Rural-Impact, Women-Led Startups

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday (December 30) announced a slew of schemes to spur the startup ecosystem in the state. 

Launched by Chief Minister MK Stalin, the initiatives will reportedly be targeted at women-led, greenetech and rural impact startups. The government will offer financial support, mentorship and incubation facilities for growing the startups. 

The incentives include incubation centres for women-led startups, increase in seed funding under the Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund (TANSEED) scheme, among others. 

The state government has announced that it will increase the seed funding from the current INR 10 Lakh to INR 15 Lakh for early-stage startups falling under the ‘special categories’ as part of TANSEED. 

Of the total funds earmarked for the TANSEED scheme, 25% will be set aside for women-led startups, while 10% will be offered to rural-impact startups. The state government has also made provisions for providing higher seed funding for eligible startups through equity or convertible debentures via an accelerated application processing window.

On the other hand, the INR 15 Lakh grant will be disbursed in a staggered manner across three equal instalments of INR 5 Lakh each. 

For women entrepreneurs, the state government will provide financial assistance and incubation facilities. Besides, a training programme and a mentorship initiative would be launched to spur women-led startups in the state. 

The incubation centres will also make available exclusive coworking spaces for women-led startups, as per a report by Business Standard. This facility, along with membership, will be available for free for women founders for at least the first year.

Besides, the state government will also launch an annual accelerator for femtech startups and women-focused angel investors under the aegis of Tamil Angels platform to integrate startup ecosystem enablers in the space. 

The chief minister also presided over the launch of the MentorTN portal which will enable founders to interact with other entrepreneurs and trusted subject matter experts to learn from their experience and scale their product line. 

The state government’s nodal startup agency, StartupTN, will also set up a regional startup hub in Madurai to scale emerging startups in the region. Besides, the body will also establish a procurement facilitation desk in Chennai that will allow startups to showcase their products for deployment in government and other public offices. 

The state government’s Green Climate Fund will also fund commercially viable infrastructure projects that promote sustainability and circularity.

Eye On Scaling Ecosystem

With an eye on creating more jobs and spurring entrepreneurship, the state government has, in the last one year, announced a slew of schemes. Earlier this year, a senior government official said that the state plans to support the creation of at least 10,000 startups by 2026.

From announcing the setting up of a startup hub in Chennai to earmarking INR 50 Cr to make equity investments in the state-based startups, the government has been looking to build a conducive environment for startups in the state. 

Even without the government’s efforts, the state has been a fertile ground for startups. Chennai has earned the moniker of the SaaS capital of the Indian startup ecosystem and served as the place of genesis for many Indian entrepreneurs including Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu and Freshworks’ Girish Mathrubootham.

Home to five unicorns, Chennai has emerged as a startup hub and the government is now looking to emulate the success in other parts of the state. 

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