PM Modi announces Rs 1,000 crore fund for startups

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced Rs 1,000 crore seed fund for startups. Seed funding is the money that a business venture, enterprise, or startup raise. It is also called the first official equity funding stage. It is the first official funding for a new business that helps it to set up and start its operations. Prime Minister also announced a  a dedicated television show for startups,  Startup Champions to be telecasted on the public service broadcaster Doordarshan (DD). The TV show Startup Champions will be a 12-week one-hour programme to showcase “innovations of the young and brilliant innovators and entrepreneurs of India,” according to Startup India.

 The programme will be telecasted at 6 PM Sunday on DD and 9 PM and 10 PM on Saturday on DD News and DD India respectively. “India is trying to create a startup ecosystem which will be based on the key principle — of the youth, by the youth, and for the youth,” Modi added. He said that India’s goal for the next five years will be to enable startups as unicorns to emerge as global giants. “Our startups should lead in the area of futuristic technology. If this resolve is the collective resolve of BIMSTEC countries, then a very large population will benefit from it.”The Prarambh: Startup India International Summit is being organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on January 15-16.  As per a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the first day of the event brought some of the world's leading minds on one platform and enabled government and international organizations to share their views to ignite the minds of young innovators and entrepreneurs.