India introduced a brand new $1.15 billion Fund of Funds for startups on Saturday whereas unveiling sweeping regulatory reforms and an bold nuclear vitality program, as New Delhi seeks to spice up tech innovation and clear vitality on the earth’s fifth-largest economic system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the federal funds for 2025-26, mentioned the fund builds on earlier startup funding packages which have already deployed greater than $1 billion from alternate funding funds. The brand new fund can have an “expanded scope” in comparison with earlier initiatives, although particular focus areas weren’t detailed within the funds.
She additionally outlined plans for a Excessive-Stage Committee for Regulatory Reforms that may evaluate all non-financial sector rules, certifications, licenses and permissions inside a yr. The initiative goals to strengthen “trust-based financial governance” and ease compliance burdens for startups and know-how firms, she mentioned.
New Delhi will discover making a separate Deep Tech Fund of Funds to catalyze next-generation startups engaged on superior applied sciences, a part of a broader push to strengthen India’s place in rising tech sectors.
These measures come as India’s startup ecosystem emerges as a big jobs creator and a supply of delight for the nation, whose broader economic system is projected to develop between 6.3% and 6.8% within the coming yr. The federal government is betting on innovation and entrepreneurship to assist obtain its longer-term objective of 8% development wanted to create sufficient jobs for its younger inhabitants.
“The primary fund carried out just a few years in the past gave an enormous fillip to the Indian enterprise capital business,” mentioned Sanjeev Bikhchandani, a high-profile investor who’s among the many earliest backers of Zomato and Policybazaar. “Dozens of Indian VC funds received arrange offering danger capital to lots of of startups. India wants home enterprise capital.”
The federal government additionally introduced a $2.3 billion Nuclear Vitality Mission geared toward creating at the least 5 indigenous small modular reactors by 2033. This system is a part of India’s objective to realize 100 gigawatts of nuclear vitality capability by 2047, with deliberate amendments to the Atomic Vitality Act to allow personal sector participation.
“We’re decided to make sure that our rules sustain with technological improvements and international coverage developments,” Sitharaman mentioned in her funds speech, asserting plans to decriminalize greater than 100 provisions throughout varied legal guidelines by way of a brand new Jan Vishwas Invoice 2.0.
The federal government additionally prolonged tax advantages for startups by 5 years, permitting firms included earlier than April 2030 to say sure deductions. For startups in 27 sectors deemed essential for India’s self-reliance targets, the federal government decreased assure charges to 1% whereas doubling their credit score assure restrict to $230,000.
A brand new scheme focusing on 500,000 first-time entrepreneurs, significantly ladies and people from scheduled castes and tribes, will present time period loans as much as $24,000 over the following 5 years. This system builds on classes from the prevailing Stand-Up India scheme, the minister mentioned, aiming to broaden the startup ecosystem’s attain.
To spice up innovation in electronics manufacturing, a key focus space for tech startups, the federal government launched a presumptive taxation scheme for non-residents concerned in establishing manufacturing services. The funds additionally proposes “BharatTradeNet,” a unified platform for commerce documentation and financing options that would profit fintech startups.
