Tribal Affairs Ministry inks MoU with KSUM to scale up ST-led startups

Trivandrum / September 16, 2026

 Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 16: The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry has onboarded Kerala as one of the states to set a national pathway to identify, incubate, mentor and finance Scheduled Tribes (ST)-led startups and enterprises by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

KSUM, the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, is among 10 agencies from different states with which the Ministry signed the MoU in the presence of Shri Jual Oram, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Durgadas Uikey in New Delhi recently.  

Shri Anant Prakash Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Shri Ashok Kurian Panjikaran, Head, Business Development, KSUM, signed and exchanged the MoU on the occasion.

The partnership will provide structured capacity building, mentorship, market linkages and investment-readiness support to ST- led enterprises.

Besides KSUM, other agencies with which the Ministry signed the MoUs are IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, T-Hub Foundation, Startup Tamil Nadu, Startup Odisha, IIM Udaipur Incubation Centre, PRIME Meghalaya, KIIT Technology Business Incubator, Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (FIED), IIM Kashipur, and Entrepreneur School of Business, Nagaland.

The selected institutions will work with the Ministry to create an enabling ecosystem for innovation-driven entrepreneurship among ST communities across the country. The partnerships are to reach approximately 1,000 ST entrepreneurs with a minimum of 100 to be funded and incubated under Venture Capital Funds for ST (VCF-ST).

Under VCF-ST scheme, companies having 51 percent shareholding by ST entrepreneurs for the past 6 months with management control can avail a financial assistance upto Rs 50 lakh. For above Rs 50 lakh fund, companies having 51 percent shareholding by ST entrepreneurs for the past 12 months with management control can apply.

For incubation funding, a maximum of Rs 10 lakh per year will be given for a period of three years aggregating Rs 30 lakh, subject to satisfactory progress. Applications are open now for VCF-ST scheme (https://www.vcfst.in/).  

According to Shri Oram, the goal is to create both job creators and job seekers by harnessing the potential of tribal youth, and of reaching and handholding a larger number of Scheduled Tribe innovators and entrepreneurs.

Reinforcing the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat,’ Shri Uikey highlighted the growth of tribal communities in the education, health, digital infrastructure and AI.

Ms. Ranjana Chopra, Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, said innovation is not something new to the tribal communities but part of their way of life. Ms. Chopra noted traditional tribal systems hold a wealth of innovation that has often been lost to the modern world and needs to be streamlined with structured strategy.

She also outlined the priorities for the partnership, namely bridging the gap between the total number of startups in the country and the number of ST-led startups, and handholding a much larger number of ST entrepreneurs.

Commenting on the MoU, Shri Seeram Sambasiva Rao, IAS, Special Secretary, Electronics & IT, Govt. of Kerala, said it is a vital step for the socio-economic empowerment of ST, besides promoting innovative technology-oriented innovative projects of tribal youths.

KSUM CEO Shri Anoop Ambika said the ideal startup ecosystem in the state is conducive to identify and scale up innovation-driven entrepreneurship among ST communities.

The initiative reflects the Ministry’s continued commitment for building an enabling ecosystem for tribal youth through mentorship and capacity building support. Facilitating innovation-led enterprise development by strengthening access to markets, finance and investor networks integrating tribal entrepreneurs into India’s growing startup landscape in line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat 2047.

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