The Tamil Nadu government will establish an exclusive 'Startup Mission' for women, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said.

To support business incubators who propose to specialise in areas like climate tech, rural tech, agri tech and marine tech, Start upTN will assist them in raising funds from various sources to set up Centres of Excellence, and will also bear up to 40% of the cost of such upgradation. "A separate vertical will be created in StartupTN to further the incubator ecosystem in the State," the Minister said.

Tamil Nadu has one of the largest number of business incubators in the country. Though details on how these initiatives will be rolled out were not available immediately, Sivarajah Ramanathan, Mission Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission, said, "For Tamil Nadu to achieve its target of be- coming a $1 trillion economy by 2030, women's participation is important. This will push more women to get into the startup ecosystem."

Vish Sahasrana mam, co-founder and CEO, Forge Innovation & Ventures, said, "Good to see intent to expand sphere of impact in the startup ecosystem. Hope to see more ambitious and bolder initiatives."

SC/ST fund

The Finance Minister said the Tamil Nadu Scheduled. Caste and Scheduled. Tribes (SC/ST) Startup Fund, a first of its kind for startups founded and run by entrepreneurs from SC/ ST communities, had been enhanced to 50 crore in 2023-24 from 30 crore in 2022-23.

Media: The Hindu