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| Foreign investors eye green SMEs |
| T E Narasimhan / Chennai Jun 26, 2009, 00:17 IST |
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Investors from the US and European countries are keen to invest around Rs 2,000 crore to promote and equip small and medium enterprises engaged in green business, according to New Ventures India (NVI).
NVI, set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the World Resources Institute, Washington, acts as a facilitator between the Indian SMEs and foreign investors, who support SMEs operating in environmental or green sectors such as advance technologies for water management, agriculture/organic products, clean technologies, ecotourism, renewable energy, green building materials, among others.
Speaking to Business Standard, Hemant Nitturkar, consultant, CII, said since 2006 NVI had facilitated investments for nine companies amounting to around Rs 80 crore in sectors like bio pesticides, environmental-friendly air-conditioners, low-cost automation systems and organic products.
Some of the key investors include ICICI Bank, ATE Enterprises, Denmark-based Best Seller, Canara Bank, Nexus India Capital, Sequoia Capital, the Netherlands-based Cordaid and Acumen Fund.
NVI also provides mentoring and technical assistance to entrepreneurs through a network of business consultants, business school students and technical experts and helps them market their products by identifying potential markets.
CII principal counsellor KS Venkatagiri said NVI was planning to reach out to the SMEs, which are in need of capital, through CII’s offices across the country and also planning to tie up with various industrial associations across various industry clusters in the country.
The minimum investment in a company will be Rs 1 crore and the maximum could go up to Rs 15 crore. The investor will stay with the company for 3-7 years. The fund option can be debt, equity and hybrid.
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