Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd., a PSE under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MOPNG), signed an MOU with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park today for incubation of Start-ups. The MOU was signed by Mr. Prabal Basu, Chairman & Managing Director, Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. and Mr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in the presence of Mr. D Sothi Selvam, Director [Manufacturing Businesses], Balmer Lawrie and Prof Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. 
 
‘Start-up India’, a flagship initiative of the Government of India, was launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. The initiative aims at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting innovation by creating a healthy ecosystem conducive for the growth of Start-ups. In pursuance of this, under the guidance of Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, "Balmer Lawrie Start-up Fund", was launched in May 2017.
 
In association with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Balmer Lawrie will be selecting and incubating the start-ups jointly. Incubation support would be physical or virtual, depending on the need of the Start-up and would include work space, knowledge resources, mentoring, networking, customer connect, investor connect and seed funding. Capacity building boot camps to impart essential knowledge on different aspects of business would be organized. To ensure success of this initiative, a continuous mentoring and monitoring mechanism for Start-ups would also be put in place.
 
Addressing the media, Mr. Prabal Basu said, “Balmer Lawrie is extremely happy to associate with IIM Calcutta in selection and incubation of Start-ups. Their experience, infrastructure and support will be of immense value to make this initiative a success.”
 
Prof. Ashok Banerjee said, “This is a great and timely initiative of Balmer Lawrie. We are happy to be part of the process of choosing bright and sustainable ideas. IIM Calcutta Innovation Park has the experience of incubating promising startups. Our mentoring programme is appreciated by the startup community. We hope that Balmer Lawrie will find our support useful.”