New Ventures India to help SMEs

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country seeking investment of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 15 crore can now approach New Ventures India ( NVI), which would facilitate their funding requirements.

NVI is a joint initiative of CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre and World Resources Institute(WRI) of Washington DC with support from US Agency for International Development(USAID). It has been launched during Green Business Summit-2005 in Hyderabad in December 2005.

"NVI is the first programme in the country designed to catalyse the development of sustainable enterprises. It helps outstanding SMEs which are environmentally beneficial, by accelerating the transfer of private investment," programme associate Madhav Kamath told Business Standard.

Under the programme, Kamath said, NVI selects SMEs in fast growth sectors like renewable energy, clean technologies, non-timber forest products, organic foods and fibres, sustainable fuels, green building materials and eco-tourism and screens their business for financial outlook, innovation, market potential and social and environmental benefits.

Once selected into the NVI portfolio, SMEs receive ongoing business consulting services that improve their business plans, help increase sales and better prepare them to move into the markets. Investors have an opportunity to interact with the NVI companies at its annual investor forum.

Kamath said that this program was running successfully in other four emerging economies of Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and China. In the last three years, over $12 million had been invested in the new ventures companies in the four countries.