Prasad to launch Electronics Development Fund on Feb 15

The fund will provide financial assistance to domestic companies in the field of electronics manufacturing and encourage innovation in the sector

The department of electronics & information technology (Deity), along with Canbank Venture Capital Fund, will launch the Electronics Development Fund (EDF) on February 15.

The EDF will provide financial assistance to domestic companies in the field of electronics manufacturing and encourage innovation in the sector.

The EDF policy was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inauguration of Digital India Week on July 1 last year.

The government had appointed Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd (CVCFL) to house EDF on September 4, 2015.

"Deity and CVCFL will launch EDF on Monday in Mumbai," a statement from the ministry said.

The EDF is set up as a "fund of funds" to participate in Daughter Funds which in turn will provide risk capital to companies developing new technologies in the area of electronics, nano-electronics and IT.

Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will formally announce the launch with handing over of the letter of commitment to the first group of Daughter Funds under EDF, the statement said.

The core focus of the Daughter Funds would be to develop domestic design capabilities.

The target beneficiaries of the EDF will be Daughter Funds (set up to achieve the objectives of the EDF policy) registered in India and abiding by the relevant rules and regulations including the Sebi regulations on Venture Funds.

The corpus of a Daughter Fund will be determined by market requirements and the capacity of its fund manager to cater to the requirements of the fund.

The Daughter Fund will also support acquisition of foreign companies and technologies for products imported in India in large volume.