Indian startups had almost USD 1 billion in deposits with the troubled Silicon Valley Bank, and the country’s deputy IT minister said he had urged that domestic banks lend more to them in the future.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was closed down by California banking regulators on March 10 following a run on the lender, which had USD 209 billion in assets at the end of 2022.

Depositors withdrew up to USD 42 billion in a single day, declaring the bank insolvent. The US government eventually intervened to ensure that depositors could access all of their monies.

According to Chandrashekhar, hundreds of Indian companies have more than a billion dollars of their funds in SVB.

This week, Chandrashekhar met with over 460 stakeholders, including entrepreneurs affected by SVB’s closure, and said he had passed on their recommendations to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Indian banks may provide a deposit-backed credit line to startups with SVB funding, using them as collateral, according to Chandrashekhar, citing one of the ideas he had made to the Finance Minister.

India has one of the world’s largest startup industries, with numerous companies reaching multibillion-dollar valuations in recent years and attracting the attention of foreign investors who have placed large bets on digital and other such ventures.

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