Indian Bank Signs MoU with Society for Innovation and Development, IISc to Fund Innovative MSMEs and Startups

Indian Bank signed an MoU with the Society for Innovation and Development (SID), the industry interface of IISc, Bengaluru under which the bank will provide financial support to MSMEs and startups, incubated at TIME² and STEM, the incubation divisions of SID.

This is part of the Indian Bank initiative to support MSMEs & Start-ups under “IND SpringBoard”, an exclusive innovative program where the bank will extend financial support of up to INR 50 crores to startups & MSMEs incubated at SID.

“Indian Bank has been funding MSMEs for ages and when we wanted to start funding startups, we selected premier institutes like IISc and IITs where the incubation cell is already established. This is because the institutes take care of the technical evaluation of startups, a key factor for us to sign this MoU. In addition, this tie-up with IISc can boost confidence in the enterprise with the financing part of their innovation.”

– Mr. Sudhakar Rao, GM-MSME, Indian Bank

SID is at the forefront of enabling industries become ‘Aatmanirbhar’ by providing access to the rich knowledge pool of IISc and offering R&D facilities and incubation support. STEM Cell division incubates deep science startups. The TIME² (time square) division incubates MSMEs helping develop their technology innovation capability and create market-responsive product innovations that are based on science, technology and design.

“While being incubated at IISc can underwrite the technology risks for an MSME or a startup as the institute provides them with the technical inputs which it can, somebody has to underwrite the financial risks till the idea becomes a product. That is where we are intrigued and very happy to see Indian Bank come forward with a scheme to support an idea or a technology and it is very encouraging for us.”

– Prof. B. Gurumoorthy, Chief Executive, SID, IISc.

To start with Indian Bank has given in-principle approval for ControSense and Electronic Relays India(ERI) who are incubatees of SID. ERI has been in the field of designing and manufacturing solid-state relays for the past 40 years and it is a pioneer to introduce solid state switching technology in India. ControSense is a technology-based start-up that provides predictive maintenance analytics solutions and services to manufacturing industries.

“Being an entrepreneur and a promoter for the last 40 years, whenever we look to develop new technology or a product, the costs or funds involved are a little uncertain. So, the backing of a bank will give us financial confidence and mitigates the uncertainty. As we progress together, as an entrepreneur and a bank, there will be mutual confidence on how to support each other and what steps need to be taken to move forward. Therefore, I appreciate Indian Bank for taking this step and it is very precious for us.”

– Mr. G.B.Umesh, Founder & Managing Director, ERI

“Our idea was to go into continual R&D with IISc, which is located right here in Bengaluru, and design some new products for the company. That is where we thought the ‘LEAP’ program of TIME² can give us a quantum jump. Though TIME² is for designing new products and Research and Development, we were also involved in developing a business plan, approaching commercial aspects of the market, and doing a survey, which gave us great exposure throughout New Product Development.”

– Mr. Madhav.R.Badsheshi, Creative Engineer, Product Development, ERI

“As an innovator or an entrepreneur, you need to align yourself with similar-minded people and entities who will be along with you in this path. There are a lot of ups and downs along the way and you need to be resilient.When I got the opportunity to work with ERI, they have been very resilient throughout COVID-19 testing times. Together, we worked through it and will continue working till we reach a good amount of success. Also, we have a good support system from ERI and SID and it grew with Indian Bank coming in. We would like to deliver the best and make everyone happy.”

– Mr. Raunak Kamat, Co-Founder, Controsense

The MoU was signed by Mr. Sudhakar Rao, General Manager (MSME) Indian Bank, and Prof. B Gurumoorthy, Chief Executive of SID, IISc in the presence of Indian Bank officials Mr. Rohit Rishi, FGM, Mr. Lakshminarayana, ZM, Jaganathan K, AGM RMPC, Mr. Sundar Babu, BM-Malleshwaram and Mr. Ramesh Dharmaji, Advisor-MSME sector. From SID, IISc Mr. Yatishwar Dravid, Head of TIME², Mr. Prathap Murthy, Program Manager, and Ms. Gowthami TIME² associate were present.