The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announced on Wednesday the Startup Accelerator for Product Innovation, Development & Growth (SAMRIDH) program, which aims to help growing startups in India. The program was announced in MeitY’s annual report earlier this year and was being approved at the time.
“The part where an idea is becoming a product, and the product is scaling, is the most vulnerable part (of a startup). As we all know, more than 50% of startups cannot cross this bridge due to for various reasons, “said Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of electronics and information technology.
The minister also said that the government wants to expand networks of incubators and startups to 10x, 20x and more.
The government has invited existing startup accelerators to partner with them and will provide funding of up to ₹ 40 lakh. The scheme aims to finance 300 early stage startups that are close to the product development stage over a period of time.
Only accelerators that have been in the incubation business for at least three years and have supported more than 50 startups, with at least 10 having a non-public company, will be able to apply for the plan. They must also have operations in India and the necessary space and infrastructure to be eligible.
This is not the first time the government has partnered with startup accelerators. On August 7, the MeitY Startup Hub joined India Accelerator under a program called SOMA, which aims to promote deep technology startups in the country. MeitY Startup Hub is another MeitY program that aims to promote startups in the country.
