Minister of State (MoS) for IT Jitin Prasada yesterday informed the Parliament that the Centre has disbursed funds worth INR 93.75 Cr to 241 startups under the Startup Accelerator of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development, and Growth (SAMRIDH) scheme in the last five years. Under the initiative, the IT ministry (MeitY) partners with accelerators to offer incubation services and a matching funding support of up to INR 40 Lakh for selected startups. It also provides financial support of INR 2 Lakh per startup to the selected accelerators. In a written reply, Prasada informed the Lok Sabha that the ministry has so far onboarded 43 accelerators under the scheme, which have incubated 373 new-age tech ventures. He also noted that MeitY startup hub monitors and evaluates the performance of selected accelerators on an annual basis. “The SAMRIDH programme, aims to accelerate around 300 startups through existing and upcoming accelerators in healthtech, edtech, agritech, consumer tech, fintech, SaaS, and sustainability. Under the SAMRIDH programme, 186 accelerators submitted expressions of interest, leading to the selection of 43 top accelerators across 16 states,” added Prasada. In response to a separate question, MoS IT also said that the country was home to 2.07 Lakh DPIIT-registered… Read MoreInc42 Media
