New Delhi: As concerns rise about the fallout for the Indian start-up sector, India’s minister of state for technology said he will meet start-ups this week to assess the impact on them of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. California banking regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on Friday after a run on the lender, which had $209 billion in assets at the end of 2022, with depositors pulling out as much as $42 billion on a single day, rendering it insolvent.
“Start-ups are an important part of the new India economy. I will meet with Indian Startups this week to understand the impact on them and how the government can help during the crisis,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted.
India is touted as one of the world’s biggest start-up markets, with many clocking multi-billion-dollar valuations in recent years and getting the backing of foreign investors. SVB’s failure, the biggest in the U.S. since the 2008 financial crisis, has hit rock bottom by roiling global markets, impacting banking stocks and is now unsettling Indian entrepreneurs.
Two partners at an Indian venture capital fund and one lender to Indian start-ups said that they are running checks with portfolio companies on any SVB exposure and if so, whether it is a significant part of their total bank balance.
