India's first dedicated branch for Startups to come up in Bengaluru

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 8 (ANI): State Bank of India (SBI) and Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which would enable SBI to open the country's first dedicated branch for startups.
The new facility called the 'SBI Startup Hub' branch will be located at Koramangala in Bengaluru. The new branch is expected to be launched in August this year.
The MoU was exchanged in presence of C N Ashwath Narayan, Minister for IT, Government of Karnataka,
Speaking on the occasion Narayan said, "this MoU would boost the prevailing Startup ecosystem in the state. Further, he stated, that SBI would start such branches at Mysuru, Mangaluru, and Hubballi-Dharawada clusters in the next 6 months."
As per this MoU, SBI will work towards creating an enabling mechanism for startups recognised by the Government of Karnataka and supported by KDEM for availing time-bound credit based on the purchase order, the minister said.
He said the KDEM would establish Fin-tech Innovation Hub at Mangaluru focusing on Fin-tech.
SBI has agreed to be one of the partner organisations for the planned Innovation hub sharing knowledge and providing financial support.
Narayan expressed confidence that the collaboration between KDEM and SBI would benefit startups by enabling access to banking facilities including focused services like access to funds, credit facilities, etc, for the startups across the state.
The state government has envisaged helping startups by making use of the Union Government's CGTMSE scheme to provide loans of up to Rs 2 crore for micro and small enterprises, he said.
Karnataka has more than 13,000 startups and some of them are facing a paucity of funds. The MoU between KDEM and SBI would help to address this by facilitating access to credits. It also facilitates, exploring options to extend CGTSME (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises) loans to eligible firms.
Speaking on the occasion, Rana Ashutosh Singh, SBI's Deputy Managing Director (Transaction Banking & New Initiatives), said the initiatives of the state government have prompted SBI to go ahead with the launch of a dedicated branch to provide cluster seed fund, the first time in the country. (ANI)