Since COVID, the Government has issued small business grants to help the Indian MSME sector find stronger footing.
But did you know that Google, Facebook and Amazon have contributed to issuing small business grants too?
While the Government is financially supporting MSMEs during this time, there are a few private conglomerates that have taken on the task to fix India’s economy by empowering the MSME sector.
3 lesser-known small business grants for India
Facebook’s $ 4.3 million small business grant
Last week, Facebook announced the launch of the small business grant for India.
As part of their $ 100 million grant for SMEs announced in March, they announced a grant of $ 4.3 million for more than 3000 small businesses in cities where Facebook has offices.
Here re the top features of the grant:
- Includes both cash and ad credits.
- Includes businesses that do not have an account on Facebook as well.
Amazon’s $ 1 billion grant for SMEs retail sector
The e-commerce giant Amazon is set to invest $ 1 billion in India’s MSME sector. Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, has stated that the grant will include:
- Establishing 100 digital ‘haats’ in Indian cities, villages. At the haats, it will onboard companies to its e-commerce platform.
- It will help local businesses create images and catalogue their products.
- Local artists will have access to global markets.
- Accelerate trade boosting in the country.
How GeM wants to meet Amazon’s presence in India:
Similar to Amazon, the Indian Government is set to shift a portion of its $400 billion public procurement to an online market platform that has already save the administration about $1 billion – the Government E-Marketplace.
“If GeM is able to bring about savings in procurement, that money can be utilized by the government for other important purposes and priorities.”- Talleen Kumar GeM, CEO
This decision is also in lieu of the Government’s plan to keep away Chinese companies from Government contracts; and boost the ‘Make in India’ policy.
Google Digitize India Grant
In July, Google announced a $ 10 billion fund to help speed up India’s digital economy. The Google for India Digitization Fund is set to deploy over the next 5 year and focus on:
- Internet access in local languages
- Building new products and services in consumer technology
- Improving the education sector and boosting teaching jobs
- Empower small and medium businesses on their digital transformation journeys and leverage AI for social good.
- A new edutainment series on Doordarshan, in collaboration with Prasar Bharati on how small businesses can adopt digital tools to adapt to the current situation.
- A $1 million grant to Kaivalya Education Foundation which will provide opportunities to set up schools online and train teachers through TV and radio.
“Today, we are recommitting ourselves to partner deeply and support India in becoming a truly digital nation by making the Internet helpful for a billion Indians and empowering India to become a leading digital economy,” – Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and VP, Google India, for Economic Times.
Finding funds during a national pandemic
The MSME sector has been grappling with depleting funds since the onset of the coronavirus. It helps MSMEs to know how to find funds to keep their business afloat. Is your business funding ready? Do you wish to know what grant/scheme by the Government works for your business model?
To get insights on finding funds for your business, enrol for a free course on mojoVersity – our exclusive e-learning platform for SMEs. The course ‘ Finding funds for your business’ is curated by deAsra – a not-for-profit company that helps MSMEs scale and grow.
