Interim Budget 2019: Electronics makers seek Rs 1,000-crore seed fund

Also seek separate budget for R&D to fund projects of national interest in electronics and semiconductor domain, call for collaborative R&D among PSUs, SMEs and start-ups

With the 2019 interim budget round the corner, stakeholders in the electronics sector are expecting the government to create a seed fund of Rs 1,000 crore and abolish the angel tax that has hit start-ups hard.

“The Government should create a seed fund of Rs 1,000 crore, which can be matched by industry and VCs (venture capitalists), to provide seed funding to build 1,000 start-ups in the ESDM (electronic system design & manufacturing) space. We have requested the government to create such a fund in the budget in our wish list submitted to the ministry,” said Rajesh Ram Mishra, president,