Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) inks pact with Indian Bank to launch a funding scheme for start-ups — IndSpring Board — to provide loans up to ₹50 crore. The B-school’s business incubator, Laboratory for Innovation Venturing and Entrepreneurship (LIVE), and Indian Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of IIMK Director Prof Debashis Chatterjee and Indian Bank Executive Director Imran Amin Siddiqui.
The loan amount disbursed to start-ups under the IndSpring Board scheme can be used to meet their operational and capital expenditure that include working capital, purchase of fixed assets, and other expenses. The MoU was signed by Prof Rajesh Upadhyayula, Executive Director, IIMK LIVE and B Vijaya, Zonal Manager, Indian Bank, Kozhikode Zone.
“Start-ups selected under this scheme would have to be committed towards working on innovation, development of products, processes and services, and be able to present a scalable business model with potential for employment generation and wealth creation,” a press release from the institute, said.
Bridging gaps
Chatterjee recollected the business incubator’s six-year journey and welcomed Indian bank onboard. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are the bedrock on which IIMK is built. In order to further strengthen our innovation ecosystem, IIMK LIVE is happy to collaborate with Indian Bank to provide debt funding for its incubate companies. With this, IIMK LIVE fulfils an important gap in its portfolio of services provided to start-ups in achieving their vision, and consequently achieving our vision of Globalising Indian Thought.”
Siddiqui of Indian Bank congratulated IIMK to have featured in Atal Innovation Rankings 2021 and added, “The start-ups across India have been able to garner pre-seed funding, seed funding, series A, B, C, and often forego substantial equity to the investors. What they were not able to access was debt funding. Indian Bank, in consultation with various stakeholders formulated a scheme that is perfectly tailored for start-ups.”