With an aim to financially assist start-ups in the financial technology domain, State Bank of India on Thursday has set up a Rs 200 crore fund.
While addressing gathering at a CII event in Mumbai, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said on Thursday that the fund shall consider assistance of up to Rs 3 crore to an Indian registered company for promoting their business innovations using IT in India for banking and related technology. The ‘IT Innovation Start-up Fund’ will have corpus of Rs 200 crore, she said.
SBI’s announcement has come at a time when the Union Government is giving a lot of emphasis on developing the start-up ecosystem. With digital technology making greater in-roads into banking, majority of financial institutions have upped their engagement to spot startups in the fintech space.
Bhattacharya said a mentoring team has been formed to assist start-ups. It will support, monitor and make a report on the progress and the utilisation of the funds by the venture. The team will facilitate and guide business, extending help in various areas including additional funding requirement, she said, adding that it will also give external legal and financial assistance as and when required.
