Railway to provide seed funding of Rs 1.5 crore for innovative startups
According to a strategy paper, the railways will invest in startups to obtain a head start in acquiring ideas straight from them. The policy aims to provide seed funding of up to Rs 1.5 crore for creative technical solutions for the national transporter. The Indian Railway Innovation Policy would identify and empower Indian innovators to work with the railways to build cost-effective, implementable, scalable solutions and functioning prototypes for the national transporter. A senior official explained, "Capital inadequacy is a major constraint in the startup ecosystem, particularly at the seed and 'Proof of Concept' developmental stages. Hence this policy aims to provide the necessary seed fund support of up to Rs 1.5 crore (on a matching contribution basis) to startups that demonstrate the capability, intent, and promise to produce functional prototypes based on new innovative concepts for potential use by the Indian Railways." According to officials, ...