SIDBI launches second window of Swavalamban Challenge Fund

Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) on Monday said it has launched the second window of Swavalamban Challenge Fund (SCF) with Green Bharat as prioritised theme.

The focus of the fund is on innovative projects addressing the green, clean or efficient climate change, Sidbi said in a statement.

Other themes are sustainable livelihood, financial inclusion, and access to financial services and promoting the culture of entrepreneurship, it said.

"The themes for this edition have been curated with a focus on green initiatives including climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, eco-friendly/ waste reduction practices through recycle/ reuse/ redesign and offering solutions to reduce carbon footprint in the country," its Chairman and Managing Director Sivasubramanian Ramann said in the release.

A challenge fund is a financing support mechanism to allocate funds for specific purposes using competition among organisations.

If there is an idea which needs to be piloted or scaled up, but funds are an issue, challenge fund provides a solution platform to present the idea in prescribed theme, implement and validate it. Later the same can be scaled up by leveraging other donor/ financier support.

The proposals can be submitted for undertaking pilot (upper cap of Rs 20 lakh) and scale-up (up to Rs 35 lakh) initiatives, the statement said.

SCF is a part of Swavalamban Resource Facility being implemented by Sidbi in partnership with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO UK). The first window of SCF was launched in August this year.