Venture funding player, GVFL Limited (earlier Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd) plans to come up with a start-up fund in sync with the Gujarat government's new industrial policy to boost entrepreneurship and new ventures.
GVFL director and CEO, Harish Pattnaik on Friday said the board had approved the start-up fund, estimated at ₹50 crore. “The ticket size for the start-up fund will be very small, around ₹50 lakh to ₹1-2 crore but the number of units under the fund will be more. The fund will act as a partner to the state government in supporting start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs under the new industrial policy,” he said. Pattnaik also said that on the lines of the Make in India concept of the Central Government, the company proposes to set up a separate SME fund, with the Centre's assistance.
GVFL on Friday also announced the final closure of its Golden Gujarat Growth Fund - I with a corpus of ₹426 crore, as on December 17, 2014. Some ₹150.5 crore has already been invested; another ₹200 crore will be invested in upcoming projects such as a solar project and a commercial complex in a SEZ area in Gandhinagar. “The fund life will be six years from the date of closing and exit is expected through secondary sale, promoter buy back, SME stock exchange listing,” he said.
Financing was provided to Ratnakar Estate Developers Pvt Ltd, a private Industrial Park near Vadodara; Hubtown Ltd for renovation of Bus Station cum Commercial complexes in Gujarat; development of a 36 MW windfarm Project of SITAC RE at Jasdan, Amreli; and Ushdev Power Holdings Private Ltd. (UPHPL) for acquiring and operating wind power assets.
The fund was originally sponsored by the Gujarat government in 2011. The investors include Govt. of Gujarat, besides PSU players LIC of India, SIDBI, SBI, BoB, IFCI, UBI, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, SBH, SBM, SBT, NABARD, GIC, Oriental Insurance, New India Assurance and United India Insurance.