In a bid to provide assistance to fashion designers, the Small Industries Development Bank of India will create a Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) corpus to lend to the sector.

The Fashion Design Council of India, organisers of the ongoing Lakme India Fashion Week, will sign an MoU with SIDBI for this purpose, FDCI executive director Vinod Kaul told PTI in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The council, which is the apex body of the fashion industry, is also negotiating with venture capitalists for funding the Rs 200 crore (Rs 2,000 million) industry, he said.

The fashion industry, which is growing annually at 25 per cent, needed assistance from angel investors, he said, adding: "We are in talks with them (venture capitalists) but fashion designers will have to corporatise their entities."

He said there were some designers like Rohit Bal who have corporatised their companies in order to meet the requirements of either SIDBI or a number of angel investors.

FDCI would work for speedy loan assistance to the industry till the time SIDBI provides loans or venture capitalists give seed capital, Kaul said.

The week-long fashion extravaganza, arguably India's biggest fashion mela, is expected to generate 25 per cent more business this year at Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million).

About 400 buyers have thronged the event which was kicked off on Tuesday.