The full form of SEDF is Socio Economic Development Foundation and another full form is Small Enterprise Development Fund (By FICCI). Socio-Economic Development Foundation, established by FICCI. In order to give corporate social responsibility initiatives in India an institutional foundation, the FICCI Socio-Economic Development Foundation of India (SEDF) was established in 1995.
The Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy), Rules 2014 introduced a sort of revolution to the sector on April 1st and unlocked doors to uncharted territories. A platform enabling corporations to define their initiatives and create an appropriate partnership with an implementation agency is urgently needed. At FICCI SEDF, these services are provided.
Since the early 1990s, far before the FICCI-SEDF became a trendy term, FICCI has been promoting and pushing for corporate social responsibility through this effort. FICCI-SEDF is exempted from taxation under section 80 G and has foundation status.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), which was founded in 1927, is India's biggest and oldest apex business organisation. FICCI, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, represents business and industry in India. It expresses the opinions and worries of the sector. India's private and public corporate sectors, as well as multinational corporations, make up the majority of FICCI's membership, which includes nearly 300,000 members from a variety of regional chambers of commerce and industry spread throughout the states. The first stop for Indian business, policymakers, and the global business community, it offers a platform for networking and consensus building within and across sectors.
It was introduced in 1995 to provide an institutional base to social activities of the Indian corporation. Based on this FICCI is promoting social related responsibilities from the 90’s. It provides public private partnerships in many areas of social development. In April, 2014 this brought a type of revolution in the industry and opened the gates to unexplored avenues. This also offers a place for corporations to identify their actions and help to build a perfect collaboration with the agency through which it is implementing.
CleanStar Mozambique, which instructs farmers in sustainable agricultural methods, received $6 million from SEDF in 2012. Its history is closely related to India's fight for independence, industrialization, and emergence as one of the world economies with the fastest growth rates.
The Aspada Investment Company, a company that invests in financial, healthcare, and educational services in India, received $10 million from SEDF in 2013. The contribution was at least SEDF's second significant investment in India after it joined a coalition of powerful groups in 2008 to fund start-up companies in the agricultural, educational, and other sectors.
One of George Soros's largest private foundations, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, provided SEDF with all of its funding in 2018. The Foundation gave the Fund $60.5 million. In that year, SEDF began the year with net assets of little over $142 million and finished the year with net assets of more than $187 million.Senior Open Society Foundations employees make up the board of directors for the Soros Economic Development Fund.
Through CSR Hub, the foundation assists its members establish project partnerships and offers an end-to-end CSR project execution solution. The FICCI Socio Economic Development Foundation (SEDF) has a long history of creating and carrying out CSR programmes in collaboration with business houses, aid organisations, and local communities. It works on the important issues that are required for the industry and also the place where business can play a vital role.
Small Enterprise Development Fund is a specialist system that is responsible for providing financial assistance to the small-scale industries mainly in Yemen and this is introduced as a response to the calls made by the donors. It is used for the development, rehabilitation, expansion and modernisation of the industries or business organisations.
It is the process of social and economic development in the society. This is measured with the Gross Domestic Product(GDP), life expectancy, literacy in the society and level of employment.
The projects under SEDF are:
Promoting mushroom cultivation in west bengal.
Rebuilding livelihoods of covid-19 affected small farmers
Strengthening rural economies through women led small enterprises
Resurgence of rural economy to tackle covid-19 crisis
It is a Platform for networking opportunities to communicate with other members, organisations, and the state and federal governments.
SEDF was managed by Small Industry Development Bank of India(SIDBI) which provides the loans to the economically poor people and helps them to succeed in their business.
The main objectives of SEDF are:
Engage in term lending
Providing refinance facilities to banks and financial institutions
Working capital finance to industries