ICBC to invest $200 million in Indian MSMEs

According to an official of the Indian unit of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the bank has set up $200 million fund for investing in the promising Indian micro, small and medium enterprises and ventures.

Zheng Bin, CEO of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) India has given an overview of the Indian startup ecosystem and how to invest in them at the 2nd 'Start-up India' Investment seminar organised by the Indian Embassy.

The ICBC, a top state-run Chinese bank which is the country's largest lender by market value, has opened its branch in Mumbai in 2011.

More than 350 Chinese angel investors, mostly representing Chinese Venture Capital (VC) funds, have participated in the seminar organised by the Indian Embassy in partnership with the Start-up India Association (SIA) and Venture Gurukool.

Forty-two Indian entrepreneurs representing 20 Indian start-ups have taken part in the event which has been expected to fetch good investments for the Indian firms. Four out of the 12 Indian firms which have taken part in the first startup India investment seminar held last year got funding from the Chinese VCs to the tune of $15 million.

The event is planned to expose the Chinese VCs and investors to the promising Indian startups on one hand and help Indian startups to reach out to the huge Chinese investors’ community for receiving investment for growth of their companies.