Economic development needs a vibrant private sector to fuel growth, create jobs and generate more revenue from taxes that help finance public services. While India has done well in terms of economic growth, there is significant disparity within India’s States. According to the 2011 Census, over 68% of India’s poor live in the States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal. These States have suffered from lower investments and poor infrastructure development. While, social enterprises in India are solving some of the most complex developmental problems most of their impact has been felt by the prosperous South and Western Indian States. There is a clear need to channel more resources in impact enterprises to kickstart economic growth in these low-income States.

The Samridhi Fund is an approx. ₹430 crore social venture capital fund set up with contributions from Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIIC). The primary objective of the Fund is to provide risk capital to scalable enterprises which provide economic, social or environmental benefits to the poor in eight low income states of India, while achieving attractive risk-adjusted returns through long term capital appreciation. It is managed by SIDBI Venture Capital Limited (SVCL), a subsidiary of SIDBI.