Nasscom and IKP Knowledge Park (ICICI Knowledge Park) are in talks with industry players from various sectors to raise the corpus of the India Innovation Fund (IIF) to Rs 100 crore from the present Rs 40 crore. The two are in touch with automobile and information technology companies to bolster the venture capital fund.

“We have had a tremendous response in our first attempt at raising capital,” Rajdeep Sahrawat, vice president, Nasscom, told Financial Chronicle. “Now that the industry knows, we hope that getting more money wouldn’t be an issue.” The fund’s corpus would reach the Rs100 crore mark within the next 12 months, he believes.

The IKPIMC has already received 100 enquiries from individuals with ideas related to these fields. “Our focus is clearly on emerging technologies, where we believe India has the potential to be the world leader. Also, the presence of industry heavyweights like TCS and Bharti Airtel on the board would help the fund in getting better acceptance from their peers,” Sahrawat explains. The fund investments would be in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.