Recent Current Affairs related to Startup India

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) named ‘IIT Madras Unicorn Frontier Fund-I’ during the 7th edition of ‘IITMAA Sangam’ (the annual conference of the IIT Madras Alumni Association) in Bengaluru.

The fund is a joint initiative between the IIT Madras and Unicorn India Ventures (UIV). The minister also released a book titled “Cashless Nation: How UPI Changed Everything”, authored by Santanu Paul and B Sambamurthy.

IDFC First Bank has partnered with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) to launch ‘IGNITE’, an incubation programme with a total outlay of ₹2 crore.

It will provide financial and operational support, including a direct startup grant corpus of ₹1.36 crore to 16 selected startups.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), through the MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), has launched the third cohort of the Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme.

The GENESIS EIR 3.0 was officially launched at the GENESIS NextGen Startup Summit (Coimbatore Edition) held at Rathinam Global University in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The programme is a national initiative designed to support aspiring entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, students, and early-stage startup founders.

It is a component of the broader GENESIS scheme, which is a flagship initiative of the MSH with a total budget outlay of ₹490 crore.

Under the EIR component of the GENESIS scheme, selected innovators will receive a maximum financial assistance of ₹10 lakh through participating GENESIS incubators.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has signed MoUs with PhonePe and Shell India Pvt Ltd to bolster the support infrastructure for DPIIT-recognised startups and to accelerate innovation across strategic sectors of the Indian economy.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has signed multiple MoUs with various industry leaders to strengthen the startup ecosystem in India.

The department has partnered with Cashfree Payments to provide digital infrastructure support, Vultr India Pvt Ltd for cloud infrastructure support, and Darwin Dynamics LLP to foster entrepreneurship development. Additionally, it has signed agreements with Cars24 Services Pvt Ltd to promote AI-driven mobility innovation and the Council for Startup India (CSI) to enhance the growth and global competitiveness of Indian startups.

The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) has signed an MoU with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to launch the “BHASHINI Seva/Sanchalan - A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program”.

The initiative aims to enhance multilingual digital capabilities across the industry and internal trade ecosystem in India by leveraging the BHASHINI platform, which serves as the National Language Digital Public Infrastructure of the country.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoC&I) has signed an MoU with Chamber India to enhance the Indian startup ecosystem and promote innovation-led development.

The partnership aims to increase interaction between startups, corporate bodies, investors, and global stakeholders, while facilitating international linkages and cross-border collaboration.

World Creativity and Innovation Day:

Day – April 21

Observed since – 2018

The Government of India has notified the “Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0” (Startup India FoF 2.0) with a total corpus of ₹10,000 crore to mobilise venture and growth capital for the domestic startup ecosystem.

This initiative is the successor to the “Fund of Funds for Startups” (FFS 1.0) launched in 2016 under the “Startup India Action Plan” to address funding gaps and catalyse domestic capital. The Startup India FoF 2.0 will facilitate commitments to eligible Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) across the 16th and 17th Finance Commission cycles.