IIM Kozhikode and Indian Bank ink pact

The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode's business incubator Laboratory for Innovation Venturing and Entrepreneurship (LIVE) and Indian Bank signed a game-changing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here on Thursday.

The pact launched a start-up funding scheme, 'IndSpring Board', to support early-stage start-ups by providing loans up to ₹50 crore, in the presence of Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-K and Imran Amin Siddiqui, Executive Director of the Chennai headquartered Indian Bank, a statement said here.

The loan amount disbursed to start-ups under the IndSpring Board scheme from IIM-K LIVE and Indian Bank will be used to meet a start-up operational expenditure and capital expenditure which include working capital, purchase of fixed assets and other expenses. Start-ups selected under the scheme would have to be committed to working on innovation, improvement of products, processes or services, and present a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation and wealth creation.

The MoU was signed by Prof. Rajesh Upadhyayula, Executive Director, IIMK LIVE, and B. Vijaya, Zonal Manager, Indian Bank, Kozhikode Zone. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Chatterjee recounted the Business Incubator's six-year impressive journey. "Innovation and entrepreneurship are the bedrock on which IIM-K has dared to go beyond traditional boundaries. The top two ranks in India's prestigious Atal Innovation Rankings 2021 is a testimony to the culture we are consciously trying to develop here," he said.

In order to further strengthen our innovation ecosystem, he said that the IIM-K and IIMK LIVE are happy to collaborate with Indian Bank to provide debt funding for its incubated 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 2047 – Globalizing Indian Thought," Prof. Chatterjee said.