Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a stirring speech at a meeting of the Dalit Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) on Tuesday, but several Dalit entrepreneurs who were present said they would like to see more action on the ground by government to foster the Dalit entrepreneurial spirit.
DICCI was formed as a parallel body to industry and trade pressure groups such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) because Dalit entrepreneurs saw these groups as old boys’ clubs where everyone knew everyone and helped each other, but were unable to appreciate the special handicaps that weighed down the socially disempowered.
The idea of a venture capital (VC) fund only for Dalits was floated by DICCI and was seized upon enthusiastically by the then deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who took a personal interest in the architecture of the fund. It was announced amid great fanfare by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2012 as a way to financing the expansion and modernisation of Dalit-run businesses and funding prospective Dalit entrepreneurs.
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