New Delhi, Mar 13 (KNN) To extend support to startups in the Country, government of India set up Fund of Funds and as per the information received from parliament; under this scheme, more than 100 startups have received funding.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry CR Chaudhary said that the corpus of 10,000 crore under Fund of Funds for startups is to be released over two Finance Commission cycles, i.e., by the year 2025.

This has catalyzed the investment of Rs 517.92 crore.

“Total commitments under FFS stand at Rs 1,050.7 crore to 24 Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs), while drawdown by AIFs is Rs 122.86 crore”, he added

He further said that the amount of Rs 500 crore has been released to SIDBI in FY16 and Rs 100 crore in FY17.

With a view to assist startups in filing of patents and trademarks, he said 423 facilitators for Patent and Design and 596 facilitators for Trademark applications have been empanelled.

He further added that the patent filing process has also been made faster for startups and 126 startups have been supported.

Besides this, rebate of up-to 80% on patent fees and legal assistance has been received by 768 applicants. Moreover he added, “Trademark facilitation has been extended to 858 startups as of January 2018.” (KNN/YV)