BEIJING, Sept 15: China has given the go-ahead to five new industrial investment funds worth a total of 56 billion yuan ($7.45 billion) to spur development of energy, high-tech and business process outsourcing firms, state media said on Saturday.

China has been stepping up the use of such equity funds after the Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, a pilot in the northern port city of Tianjin, was launched last year.

The newly approved funds would be spread throughout the country, from the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong to the northern coal-producing province of Shanxi and Sichuan province in the west, the China Daily said.

They included the 20 billion yuan Shanghai Financial Industrial Investment Fund, as well as the Guangdong Nuclear Power Industrial Investment Fund and the Shanxi Coal Energy Industrial Investment Fund, each worth 10 billion yuan, the paper said.

The ramp-up of such equity funds has been supported by a series of recent policy measures.—Reuters