North East Venture Fund | 19 Jan 2021

Why in News

The Ministry of Development of North-East Region has recently given an update on the scheme North East Venture Fund.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • Set up by North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Limited (NEDFi) in association with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M-DoNER), the North East Venture Fund scheme was launched in September 2017.
  • It is the first dedicated venture capital fund for the North Eastern Region (NER).
    
    • Venture capital is a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential. Venture capital generally comes from well-off investors, investment banks and any other financial institutions.
  • Corpus Amount:
    
    • Capital commitment of Rs 100 crore.
  • Objectives:
    
    • To contribute to the entrepreneurship development of the NER and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns through long term capital appreciation by way of investments in privately negotiated equity/ equity related investments.
    • The fund targets to invest in Start-Ups and unique business opportunities to provide resources for new entrepreneurships in Food Processing, Healthcare, Tourism, segregation of services, IT, etc.
  • Range of funds:
    
    • The investment under this scheme ranges from Rs. 25 lakh to Rs.10 crore per venture, which is long term in nature with an investment horizon of 4-5 years.

Other Initiatives for the Development of North-Eastern Region

• North East Rural Livelihood Project (NELRP):
  
  • Launched in 2012, the NERLP is a World Bank aided, multi-state project under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
  • The project has been implemented in 11 districts of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim with an aim to improve rural livelihoods especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged, in the four North Eastern States.
• North Eastern Region Vision 2020 document provides an overarching framework for the development of the North Eastern Region.
• Science & Technology Interventions in the North East Region (STINER):
  
  • STINER aims to bring relevant technologies developed by the academic, scientific and research institutions to the artisans and farmers especially women.
• North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP):
  
  • The Scheme was initially approved in December 2014 as a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Power.
  • It aims to create a reliable power grid and improve NER States' connectivity to the upcoming load centers, and thus extend the benefits of the grid connected power to all categories of consumers of beneficiaries in the North Eastern Region.
• Destination North East festival:
  
  • The different facets of Northeast including the entrepreneurship avenues are replicated at different locations across the country. During these events also, an exclusive arrangement is made for offering counselling and assistance to potential entrepreneurs and business Start-Ups.

Source:PIB