India startup fund may not be enough as investors hold back

Mumbai

AFTER pumping billions of dollars into Indian Internet startups in the last 24 months, global investors are cutting that flood back a trickle as dreams of huge online sales are clouded by soaring valuations and still-distant profits.

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lines up a four-year, US$1.5 billion government fund to help startups create jobs, entrepreneurs fear that may prove a drop in the ocean. Venture capitalists have already tightened purse strings as ripples from China's economic slowdown lap around the world.