Credit and finance for MSMEs: The government in May 2020 had announced the Self Reliant India (SRI) fund, a SEBI-registered category-II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), to invest Rs 50,000 crore in MSMEs. The fund is implemented by NSIC Venture Capital Fund Limited (NVCFL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the government’s MSME growth agency National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). While the government is the anchor investor as the mother fund with Rs 10,000 crore support, the remaining Rs 40,000 will be raised by daughter funds from banks, financial institutions, HNIs, and others.
In an interaction with FE Aspire at the ScaleUp Summit last month, Gaurang Dixit, the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NSIC under the Ministry of MSME talks about the fund aimed at addressing the credit shortage in the MSME sector. Dixit also shares insights about the NSIC’s Raw Material Assistance scheme and his growth mantra for small businesses.