Small business growing? Maharashtra sees rise in seed money given out

In what may be an encouraging sign for small businesses in the state of Maharashtra, the state government has declared that the number of takes for seed money to start their own ventures has risen over the years.

Seed money is an early investment, meant to support the business until it can generate cash of its own, or until it is ready for further investments. Typically seed money can come from friends and family, but in this casethe state government is encouraging unemployed youth to take up self-employment ventures through industry, service and business by providing soft loans from finance institutions.

Local unemployed person or a group of persons of age between 18 to 50 years who have passed standard VII are eligible under the scheme.

Here’s what the seed money disbursal looks like over the years:

During 2012-13 seed money amounting to Rs 14.10 crore was disbursed to 2,028 projects, whereas during 2013-14 upto December, seed money amounting to Rs 6.42 crore was disbursed to 880 projects.