Bihar Government Approves State’s Startup Policy; Launches Venture Capital Fund Of $750 Mn

In yet another boost to the Indian startup ecosystem, the Bihar Government has cleared the launch of the state’s startup policy. The policy includes a Start Up venture capital fund that aims at boosting entrepreneurship in the state.

The fund, with a value of $750 Mn (INR 5,000 Cr), is formed as part of CM Nitish Kumar’s ‘seven resolves’. It will be adopted as policy governance for the next five years in conjunction with the secular alliance government.

The approval to the Start Up policy, 2016 was given at a meeting of the cabinet presided over by CM Kumar. The startup policy aims to cater to the needs of emerging entrepreneurs and make Bihar a startup destination in India.

The cabinet gave a green signal to 31 proposals of different departments at the meeting such as raising advertising rates as part of the state’s Advertisement Policy, 2016 and set aside shares of revenue of local urban bodies for various state projects.

Bihar joins a long line of states who are proactive and receptive to homegrown startups.

In June 2016, the Gujarat government announced its IT and Electronics startup policy to promote 2000 new ventures in the next five years in the state. Under this policy, 50 incubators were proposed to be developed to mentor and guide the startups.

Last month, Odisha’s State Government led by Naveen Patnaik cleared a startup policy for the state. The state has aimed to set up 1000 startups in the next five years for which the state’s MSME’s will provide a seed fund of $3.7 Mn (INR 25 Cr). Following the announcement, Patnaik met over 60 companies and received investment commitments of $13.5 Bn (INR 90490 Cr) for state investments.

Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Rajasthan are the others states to have already announced policies pertaining to startups.

This development was first reported in ET.