New Delhi, Feb 27 (KNN) SIDBI's Venture Capital Investment Committee (VCIC) has sanctioned Rs 300 crore to fund managers who would invest in startups, taking the total sanctions so far this fiscal to over Rs 1,100 crore.

 SIDBI's VCIC comprises former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, former Nasscom chief Kiran Karnik, Indian Angel Network Founder Saurabh Srivastava, Founder of Info Edge Sanjeev Bikhchandani, among others, who had screened several proposals from VC last year.

 During fiscal year 2014-15 and 2015-16 sanctions were made to 11 funds (Rs 314 crores) and 16 funds (Rs 607 crores) respectively while the number during the current financial year has already crossed Rs 1,112 crores to 30 funds.

In its 7th meeting on the February 11, VCIC examined requests from 11 fund managers and cleared sanction requests from 9 Funds aggregating Rs 300 crores.

"It is evident that there is a significant upsurge in the fund of funds operations if seen from the number of funds supported by SIDBI during the current fiscal," Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

To promote startups, the Cabinet had last year approved the setting up of a 'Fund of Funds for Startups' with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore at SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank).

This money will be released spread over the 14th and 15th finance commission cycles ending 2025 based on progress under the Scheme.

"An amount of Rs 500 crore has been released so far to SIDBI which is managing the

Out of the those cleared earlier by VCIC, SIDBI has so far accorded formal sanction, for an aggregate contribution of Rs. 1619.25 crores after undertaking detailed appraisal and due diligence (including Rs. 1580 crore under IAF/FFS and Rs. 39.50 crores under ASPIRE).

Operations under IAF and FFS are complimentary as both target startups and the exact coverage depends on the status of compliance to the guidelines under these funds at the time of signing of the contribution agreements.

FFS initially focussed on motivating AIFs to float schemes which will invest in startups alone.

With difficulties expressed by the industry in this regard, the government is re-examining the issue. With the modification proposed, coverage under FFS is expected to stand at around Rs. 600 crore in respect of 15 AIFs by March 31, 2016, the release added.