Page 15 - Banking Finance March 2022

ROUNDUP

capital infusion, including risk capital, nized startups spread across 55 indus- Cross-border trade a prior-
the minister said, according to the tries, with 45% of them from tier-II
ministry of commerce and industry. and tier-III cities, and 45% of then hav- ity for MSMEs
The roundtable organized by the de- ing at least one woman director, the As small and medium businesses in In-
partment for promotion of industry ministry said. dia learn to cope with changing mar-
ket scenarios due to the ongoing pan-
and internal trade (DPIIT), was held The startup fraternity should nurture
through video conference as part of 75 more unicorns in 2022, Goyal had demic, there has been a significant in-
crease in their participation in online
the Startup India Innovation Week. said at the inaugural ceremony of the
selling, social commerce and cross-bor-
More than 75 VC fund investors from Startup India Innovation Week, earlier der trade. As per a recent survey, 9 in
across the US, Japan, Korea, and this week. 10 MSMEs say cross-border trade is a
Singapore, as well as some global funds
key area for business growth and 2 out
domiciled in India, participated in the Govt to infuse Rs. 1,500 cr of 3 MSMEs use social media as sales
deliberations. These funds, which have channel today.
a combined asset under management in IREDA to step up RE
The survey by PayPal India in partner-
of more than $30 billion in India, made funding
several suggestions to boost the senti- ship with Edelman Data and Intelli-
ment of investors in the sector. The Cabinet cleared equity infusion of gence, aims to understand how Indian
Rs 1,500 crore into IREDA (Indian Re- MSMEs have adapted during the pan-
The government has taken several newable Energy Development Agency) demic by adopting a digital-first ap-
steps to support startups and would to boost its lending capacity as the proach while leveraging the global
continue to come up with more mea- government targets ssetting up of 450 opportunity and their key priorities to
sures. The government has undertaken GW green energy capacity as part of scale up.
49 regulatory reforms to enhance the fulfilling its COP26 net-zero promise. The MSME Digital Readiness Survey
ease of doing business, ease of raising
The equity infusion will enhance 2021 was conducted between October
capital, and to reduce the compliance to November 2021. The respondent
burden, to support the startup ecosys- IREDA's net worth, boosting the
agency's lending capacity to Rs 12,000 included small businesses and with 250
tem.
crore. This amount will be good business decision markers of India's
The roundtable was held to discuss the enough for financing up to 4,000 MW SME with annual turnover ranging
progress of the Indian startup-VC eco- of additional renewable capacity. This from Rs 5 crore to Rs 250 crore. The
system, as well as insights on impact will lead to a reduction in carbon emis- businesses show an average turnover
investing, India's global outlook, and sion of more than 7 million tonnes CO2 of Rs 123 crore and an average em-
opportunities for VC investments in the per year. ployee size of 386 persons. The sample
country. endorses a mix of industry, mainly com-
IREDA's portfolio increased from Rs prising the services (36%), production
The meeting covered topics such as 8,800 crore to Rs 28,000 crore in the
'building for the world from India', Digi- last six years. But according to RBI (28%) and retail and hospitality (16%)
tal India outlook, regulatory updates norms, loans can be extended on 20% sector.
for global and domestic funds, oppor- of the agency's net worth. This rule The survey highlighted that after two
tunities in India, and 'Vision for India capped IREDA's financing capacity to years since Covid-19 hit the country,
at 2047'. It also covered major regula- Rs 600 crore as its net worth is Rs more than half of small businesses
tory issues that need to be addressed 3,000 crore. (52%) witnessed a positive impact on
with the Centre. their business once economies began
The additional equity will also improve to reopen. In fact, 29% of the MSMEs
The meeting was also attended by the capital-to-risk weighted assets ra- found that the business environment in
Anurag Jain, secretary, DPIIT, major tio (CRAR), which will facilitate its lend- India became more favourable for
Indian regulators, and policymakers. ing and borrowing operations, accord- online sales and for 31% the cross-bor-
India has more than 61,000 recog- ing to a government statement. der opportunity was promising. T

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