IIT Madras is starting an incubation cell to provide seed-stage funding of up to $ 0.8 million (Rs 3.5 crore) per venture for the first year.
The initiative is executed by the department of management studies.
The director M S Ananth, IIT Madras said that small and medium enterprises generated 10 times the employment per unit of investment and that it is required to decentralise the aspect to get innovations started with centres like theirs.