Lok Sabha Question No. 2037 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-14
Subject: North Eastern Development Finance Corporation
Ministry: DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN REGION
Asked by: C. Lalrosanga

## Government of India

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2037

To be answered on

## QUESTION

## North Eastern Development Finance Corporation

2037.  SHRI C. LALROSANGA: Will  the  Minister  of  DEVELOPMENT  OF  NORTH  EASTERN  REGION  be pleased to state: (a) whether  the  North  Eastern  Development  Finance  Corporation  has  recently organised month long start-up Investment Festival, 2022; (b) if so, the details thereof and the reason for organising this festival; (c) whether the Government has recently launched North East Venture Fund; (d) If so, the details thereof along with the funds earmarked for the purpose; (e) whether the Government has organized special training on Start-ups for the development of North-East-Region; and
2. (f) If so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER The Minister of Ministry of  Development of North Eastern Region

## [SHRI.G.KISHAN REDDY]

(a)  and  (b)  North  Eastern  Development  Finance  Corporation  Ltd.  (NEDFi),  has organized a Startup Investment Festival, 2022 from 15.02.2022 to 15.03.2022. This event  will  provide  a  platform  to  local  entrepreneurs  to  showcase  their  business ideas  and  to  pitch  for  investment  through  access  to  capital  for  scaling  up  their businesses.  It  will  also  help  them  avail  other  facilities  like  handholding  support, advisor network, investor network, marketing support etc.

The  reason  for  organizing  this  event  is  to  reach  out  to  start-ups  and  first generation  entrepreneurs  of  North  Eastern  Region  (NER)  and  boost  the  start-up ecosystem in the region.

- (c) and (d) North East Venture Fund (NEVF) is a dedicated venture fund for the NER promoted by NEDFi, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) and  Small  Industries  Development  Bank  of  India  (SIDBI).  It  was  launched  in September, 2017 with a corpus of Rs. 100 crore, with contributions of Rs. 45 crore as interest free loan from MDoNER, Rs. 30 croreby NEDFi itself and Rs. 25 crore from  SIDBI.  It  is  registered  with  Securities  Exchange  Board  of  India  (SEBI)  under SEBI  (AIF)  Regulations,  2012,  as  a  sector  agnostic  fund.  Till  date,  a  total  of  36 proposals  have  been  given  in-principle  commitment  (sanction)  of  Rs.  74.77  crore under NEVF - in Healthcare, Edutech, Agri&Agri Allied, Tourism, Food Processing, IT&ITES etc. sectors.

(e) & (f) The Government has taken various initiatives to organize special training for development of start-ups in the North-East region, inter alia, as follows:

- (i)  States'  Startup  Ranking  Framework  (SRF ) launched  in  February  2018  under which the following Workshops/Visits have been organized:
- (a) Knowledge Exchange Workshops (SRF 2018)
- (b) Knowledge Exchange Workshops (SRF 2019)
- (c) International Exposure Visits (SRF 2019)
- (d) Knowledge Exchange Week (SRF 2020)

(ii)  Startup  India  Yatra  Initiative: The  Department  for  Promotion  of  Industry  and Internal Trade(DPIIT), launched Startup India Yatra in 2017 to promote entrepreneurship  in  rural  and  non-metro  regions  across  States  through  grassroot startup aspirants by providing them incubation, mentorship, and funding support. As a  part  of  this  initiative,  bootcamps  were  organized  in  Manipur,  Assam,  Tripura, Arunachal  Pradesh,  Meghalaya,  Mizoram,  and  Nagaland  from  January  2019  to March 2019 reaching over 6600 individuals from 44 districts of these 7 States. In all, 179 incubation offers were extended along with a funding support of Rs. 20.1 lakhs as cash prize to 57 winners.

(iii)  As a part of DPIIT program named WING -capacity development programmes for existing and aspiring women entrepreneurs were conducted in Guwahati, Assam on  27-28  February  2020  with  45  attendees;  and  in  Kohima,  Nagaland  on  22-23 January 2020 with 114 attendees. The participants were given mentoring sessions on  themes  like  Venture  Ideation  and  Business  Model  Validation,  Governance, Legal/Compliance,  Marketing/Branding,  Creating  differential,  Finance  &  Financial Decisions and Mastering Customer Acquisition Strategy & Scaling-up .

(iv) Startup Sensitization Training in Meghalaya & Assam: A physical training session was organized by DPIIT in Shillong on the 25th of September 2021 in which around 40 entrepreneurs of the state participated and shared their experiences and success stories.  A  Startup  Bootcamp  was  held  by  DPIIT  on  23rd  September  2021,  at Guwahati  in  which  around  30  startups  of  Assam  participated  and  were  sensitized about the programmes under the Startup India initiative.

(v)  Incubator  Capacity  Building  Engagement  (Mizoram):Startup  India,  along  with Mizoram  State  Entrepreneurship  Development  Monitoring  Committee  organized  a consultation session with incubators from Mizoram on 22 nd October 2021 as a part of Capacity Building Program.

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