(This story originally appeared in on Nov 05, 2014)

NEW DELHI: The journey of tech behemoths like Google , Apple and Facebook , from startups to global giants, has caught the fancy of the Indian government , which is planning a Rs 10,000-crore electronics development fund to support ambitious startups in attaining scale.The government feels that India needs to incubate tech giants from its soil, like those emanating from the West, as the country has a fast-growing mass of internet users and possesses a rich list of highly-skilled techies. The basic groundwork for kick-starting the initiative has been completed."It is in the process of finalization and we will get an approval very soon," a source in the ministry of information technology told TOI. This is a different fund from the Rs 10,000-crore venture fund announced in the Budget for startups in micro, small and medium enterprise (MSMEs).The government will not make the investments directly, but will rather route the money through venture capital funds that are focused on electronics hardware and IT startups. "We will take small subscription in them. Thus, we will invest in the capital of the fellows who do the investments," the source said.Elaborating on the idea behind the creation of the fund, the source added, "Innovations are not happening in our country, products are not being made in our country. We are, at best, a labour market. Our highly-qualified boys and girls are doing research in Bangalore and other labs, but they are essentially creating intellectual property products for foreign companies. Why can't we have our own products where we have our own intellectual property rights?"The government feels that India has missed the bus in terms of creating technology giants, both in software and electronics hardware. "For example, in software, a Google or a Facebook or a Microsoft Office has not been developed in India. Despite being such a big IT power, India has not been able to make any products. We are able to do just services," the source added. The government will create the electronic development fund to make the investments. "We are not directly funding the startups, but rather we will collaborate with some venture capital funds," the source said.The segments earmarked for funds include electronics, components and software. "The idea is to create a startup culture, a product culture, and innovation," the source said. Both domestic and foreign venture capital funds will be targeted by the government to route its investments.