Yes Bank, which has been recognised amongst the Top and Fastest Growing Banks in various Indian Banking League Tables by prestigious media houses and Global Advisory Firms, has recently entered into a tie-up with Entrepreneurship education and incubator, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) so as to provide financial aid to startups being supported by the institution.

In addition to announcing the tie-up, the two parties have also announced the name of the first startup that is being supported by Yes Bank under the initiative. The bank, which has a mission of “Building the Finest Quality Bank of the World in India” by 2020, has decided to provide a whopping Rs 50 lakh loan to EDII supported startup, Green Ideology, under the Credit Guaratee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) programme.

Started four years in 2013, Green Ideology by Abhishek Lodha and Neerja Lakhani has gained fame in the startup market by introducing India to its first ever premium organic antimicrobial lingerie brand ‘Inner Sense’.

The founders were inspired to start 'Inner Sense’ seeing the whole organic movement spreading through India where everyone wanted to live with organically prepared items in order to avoid getting in contact with any harmful chemicals. With Inner Sense, every Indian woman can wear lingerie that is organic, anti-odour andanti-microbial. The lingerie brand also carries a special Inner Sense-Maternity line that resolves to provide fresh colors, prints and styles in super soft nursing bras to relieve moms from boring ones and celebrate motherhood with them.

Gujarat-based Green Ideology had previously been provided a grant of Rs 5 lakh from the Gujarat government to start its operations and launch its product range in the market. This was achieved by the startup by acting through its nodal institute EDII. Now with the Rs 50-lakh debt funding from YES Bank in hand, the startup aspires to scale its business to new heights by increasing its width and depth in products and categories. The lingerie brand, which currently has around 60 styles is selling its products on its own e-commerce portal as well as on all major e-commerce sites in India. It is also selling products in the US, UK, and Malaysia.

Speaking on the association with Yes Bank, Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director, EDII said, "For many years, EDII has been mentoring and supporting start-ups, especially those founded by alumni of our institute. But, our ability to lend to these start-ups was minuscule as we are an educational institute. Now, in association with YES Bank, EDII is in a position to provide debt to more start-ups whom we support in various ways."

Yes Bank, on the other hand, had also recognised the importance of startups for the growth of the Indian economy long ago and started its own YES Head-Startup programme. Speaking on the tie-up with EDII, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES Bank said, "As an extension of our YES Head-Startup programme, we are pleased to collaborate with EDII to help start-ups scale up and grow rapidly, thereby, creating a multiplier effect on the Indian economy."
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