Union Budget 2025: New Fund of funds for Startups to be set up with Rs 10,000 cr to empower entrepreneurship

On Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled another phase of the Fund of Funds for Startups scheme, allocating a corpus of ₹10,000 crore to foster the growth of emerging entrepreneurs. This announcement highlights the government's emphasis on driving innovation through startups. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has officially recognized more than 1.5 lakh startups to date. The Startup India action plan was introduced on January 16, 2016.

In the same year, the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme was introduced with a ₹10,000 crore corpus to address the funding needs of startups. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) serves as the monitoring agency, while the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) operates the scheme. The ₹10,000 crore corpus is planned to be disbursed over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles, contingent on the scheme's progress and available funds. The initiative has not only provided capital to startups at various stages—early, seed, and growth—but has also been instrumental in fostering domestic capital raising, reducing reliance on foreign investments, and promoting the development of home-grown venture capital funds.