To givefurther impetus to the start-ups in the state, the Punjab Cabinet, led by ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh, on Wednesday cleared the decks for the establishmentof the Punjab Innovation Mission and the Punjab Innovation Fund.
To achievethe objective of Punjab Innovative Mission, a Punjab Innovation Fund of Rs 150crore is proposed to be set up to invest in early-stage start-ups in the state.
Thegovernment's participation in this fund will be a maximum of 10 per cent of thecorpus, i.e. Rs 15 crore. This fund will be managed by an asset managementcompany, comprising investors of global repute, and the first chairperson ofthe mission and the fund would be Clix Capital chairman and Genpact founderPramod Bhasin.
Bhasin toldthe virtual Cabinet meeting that he will raise the remaining Rs 135 croreinvestment from Punjabi business and investors, the diaspora as well as publicand private financial institutions.
The PunjabInnovation Mission would go a long way in developing a vibrant innovativeecosystem for entrepreneurship by leveraging capital, policy and technologythrough collaboration with investors, industry, government, academia andstart-ups and by facilitating collaboration amongst the various incubators andaccelerators in Punjab, an official spokesperson told the media.
While themission will be sector agnostic, it will focus on some thrust sectors likeagri-tech, food processing, healthcare, pharma, bio-technology, life sciences,information technology, gaming and sports, etc.
Thegovernment would support the operation of the Punjab Innovation Mission andPunjab Innovation Fund by providing for the operational expenditure for firstthree years, amounting to Rs 10 crore.