India may give incentives to VCs investing in SMEs

India plans to provide incentives to venture capitalists (VC) who invest in small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), a senior DIPP official said here today.

"We are trying to incentivise venture capitalists' investments for SMEs," RP Singh, secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), told reporters here today after addressing a seminar of 150 investors.

Singh said the current venture capital funding for Indian SMEs was negligible.

Asked to be specific about the venture capitalist investments in the type of SMEs, he said it should be across the board with focus on manufacturing sector.

Singh highlighted his department's plans to create more incentives, making it more attractive for foreign direct investors to participate in the Indian infrastructure developments during the seminar on "FDI and Infrastructure Development in India".

He led a delegation of Indian state investment official team to Singapore which met with Singapore-based international investors.

The team, among others, included Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).

"Singapore is not only a financial capital but several Singapore companies have participated in Indian development projects. Going forward, we are looking at the possibilities of Japanese and Singapore companies partnering with each other with their expertise of undertaking mega projects on long-term basis," Kant said.

"There will be cases where the Japanese companies with their technical expertise and Singapore companies with their experiences coming to India to help implement projects," he added.

Top industrial officials from Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra presented their respective state's projects in the DMIC.

The Singh-led delegation members said each of their state had one-stop agencies to implement the projects, assuring that all approvals have been obtained with land acquisition and final designs ready for private sector investments, including foreign investors.

"Preparations have been made and were further being strengthened for encouraging participation of public and private sector in the DMIC scheme, cost of which was estimated over $90 billion," the industry representatives added.