NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's leading telecom services provider, today announced the launch of the Airtel Innovation Fund aimed at promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of telecommunications.

The objective of the fund is to provide opportunities to entrepreneurs with a vision to build business based on innovative ideas.

This is the first-ever fund in India and will have an initial corpus of Rs 200 crore led and administered by Bharti Airtel.

"This fund will be a catalyst in further promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship in Indian telecom as well as development of exciting technologies for the benefit of customers", Manoj Kohli, CEO and joint managing director of Bharti Airtel said at a media conference here.

"Bharti Airtel has been a pioneer in the India telecom sector and revolutionized the market with innovative products like Lifetime Prepaid," he said.

The Airtel Innovation Fund's intent is to provide seed money to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise be able to access funds, and to serve as a vehicle to promote developments in technology, content and software applications in the area of telecommunications.

"Bharti Airtel has demonstrated that Indian entrepreneurship can create world-class companies. The Airtel Innovation Fund is a pioneering step to promote innovation and help budding entrepreneurs realize their dreams," said Bharti Airtel's chairman and managing director, Sunil Bharti Mittal, in a press release.

Bharti Airtel said the company would start receiving the applications by today itself.