What are Grants? 

NIDHI-Seed Support System is an initiative of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology. A wide gap exists in financial support required by technology driven start-ups in their initial phase which is not being addressed properly. The basic idea of seed support is providing financial assistance to potential startups with promising ideas, innovations and technologies.NIDHI Seed Support Program (NIDHI-SSP) aims at providing financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization etc. 

It was launched more than four decades ago, after the establishment of the Science and Engineering Research Board (“SERB”) but continues to be one of the most relevant and useful schemes. The objective of CRG is to help research labs, academic institutions and other R&D organizations carry out research in all frontier fields of science and engineering. Thus, it encourages upcoming and eminent scientists for an individual-centric competitive method of research funding.

The Pfizer INDovation Program will help accelerate the journey of six start-ups into the market through customized support and by fostering relevant cross-industry collaborations.Pfizer, Social Alpha and IIT-D have come together to launch the INDovation Program to support breakthrough healthcare innovations by start-ups in India. This program aims to equip healthcare systems for a post Covid19 world. This initiative will guide high-quality startups, having at least a tested prototype, and accelerate their journey through product engineering and development services, clinical validation support, regulatory advisory, and market access opportunities through grant support and catalytic cross-industrial collaborations.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development bank in India. The Government of India announced the creation of the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund under NABARD in the Union Budget of 2017-18 for the sustained benefit of farmers.

Raw Material Assistance Scheme aims at helping MSMEs by way of financing the purchase of Raw Material (both indigenous & imported). This gives an opportunity to MSMEs to focus better on manufacturing quality products.

Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in 2017, launched an initiative called ‘NRL iDEATION’ with a mission to provide a robust platform for the startup eco-system in the NE region, by providing incubation, mentoring & funding to ideas based on ‘Original Thinking’.

TePP provides grants at various stages - conceptualization, fabrication, development, trial, and application upto commercialisation.

Venture Capital Fund is a Social Sector Initiative to be implemented nationally in order to promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes population in India. “Entrepreneurship” relates to entrepreneurs managing businesses which are oriented towards innovation and growth technologies. The spirit of the above mentioned fund is to support those entrepreneurs who will create wealth and value for society and at the same time promoting profitable business.

Oriental Bank of Commerce launched the scheme, women with an ownership of 51 percent share capital individually or jointly in a proprietary concern can avail a loan through the Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana. There is collateral required for loans between Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 25 lakhs. The repayment tenure of the loan is seven years. Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme also provides a concession on the interest rate of up to 2 percent.

The government of India launched Drone Shakti, as voiced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, 2022. This new initiative is designed to motivate startups to introduce diverse applications for drones, including drones-as-a-service (DaaS). Furthermore, the finance minister also stated that the government would encourage the use of drones by farmers. Sitharaman focused on the farmers' use of these drones to survey the lands and spray insecticides along with digitising land records. Besides, the government also asserted to stand in full support of the drone technology startup in India. It recently flagged off 100 Kisan Drones in diverse parts of the country to spray pesticides and more. In order to promote made-in-India drones, the government of India banned the import of drones with immediate effect. This however exempts the import of drones for research and development, defence, and security purposes, as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

The Procurement and Marketing support Scheme would promote and educate MSMEs by organising trade fairs/awareness programs about GeM portal, Online services and other services. The scheme also encourage Micro and Small Entreprises to develop domestic markets and find new ways of  promotion of new market access initiatives. It will also cover activites required to facilitate market linkages for effective implementation of Public Procurement Policy for MSEs Order of 2012.

The Objective of this fund is to provide concessional finance to the entities of the SC entrepreneurs. With a view to developing entrepreneurship amongst the SC/Divyang youth and to enable them to become 'job-givers’, Ministry of Social Justice, Government of India had launched the Venture Capital Fund for SCs (VCF-SC) in 2014-15. Under this fund, 117 companies promoted by SC entrepreneurs have been sanctioned financial assistanceto set up business ventures.

Sparsh is the Social Innovation programme for Products: Affordable & Relevant to Societal Health. The programme is initiated by BIRAC under the aegis of Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. The programme aims at promoting the development of innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. The scheme will tackle major social issues and offer new ideas for widespread change. The scheme aims to invest in ideas and innovations that improve health care of all Indians and encourage affordable product development in the social sector. The scheme intends to create a pool of social innovators in the biotech arena who will identify the specific needs and gaps in healthcare. The social innovators will be provided financial and technical support for developing market-based solutions that have potential to bring cost effective health care breakthroughs to vulnerable populations in particular.

BIRAC has launched the Product Commercialization Program Fund (PCP Fund) under the BIRAC Product Commercialization Program (PCP). To hasten the market launching and large scale commercialization process of BIRAC supported products/ technologies from Start-ups having high commercial potential or societal impact by providing financial assistance by way of Grant-in-Aid assistance.

SAMRIDH scheme, which stands for Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development, and growth, on August 25, 2021 has been designed to provide funding support to startups along with helping them bring skill sets together which will help them grow successful. The newly launched SAMRIDH program aims to focus on the acceleration of around 300 start-ups by extending them with customer connect, investor, connect, and other opportunities for international expansion in the upcoming three years that will follow.

In order to enhance the competitive strength of SMEs, the scheme provides financial incentives to those SMEs/ancillary undertakings that have acquired ISO 9000/ISO 14001/HACCP certification through reimbursement of the expenditure incurred. The scheme is enlarged so as to include reimbursement of expenses in the acquisition of ISO 14001 certification.

Zone Startups India, under the Ryersons Futures Network, helps selected startups with a full spectrum of services and resources - funding, mentorship, access to talent, networking opportunities and soft landing to the North American market.

The Multiplier Grants Scheme aims to support and fund industries such as IT, analytics, enterprise software, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and technology hardware.

In order to showcase Tea's wide varieties at one place and excite the customers especially youth about the qualitative nuances and the correct brewing method in a magnificent & aesthetic ambience, the concept of “Tea Boutique” has been proposed by the tea board which is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Tea Board  will handhold a prospective entrepreneur for three (3) years in terms of financial assistance for setting up the Tea Boutique.Technology business incubator scheme has been discontinued from 31.03.2021 and no new centers will be setup. Focus is on livelihood business incubator. Website has detail guidelines about the structure and process. https://aspire.msme.gov.in/ASPIRE/AFHome.aspx#

This scheme is for promotion of innovation, rural and entrepreneurship. It was introduced to set up a network of technology centers and incubation centers across India with the objective to accelerate entrepreneurship and encouraging innovations for unmet social needs in the agro-business industry. It provides financial aid for setting up livelihood business incubators and/or technology business incubators, by way of one-time grant of 100% (hundred percent) cost of plant & machinery (apart from land and infrastructure) or a sum up to INR 100 (Indian rupee hundred) lakhs, whichever is less.

The Small Business Innovation Research Initiative (SBIRI) scheme of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology was launched in 2005 to boost Public-Private- Partnership (PPP) efforts in the country. SBIRI was the first of its kind, early stage, innovation focused PPP initiative in the area of Biotechnology. Launching of SBIRI has worked as an enabling platform for the target organizations to realize their potential in terms of product and process development and taking them to the market. It has facilitated innovation, risk taking by small and medium companies and bringing together the private industry, public institutions and the government under one roof to promote the research and innovation in the Indian Biotech Sector. The projects supported under the scheme have resulted in prominent outcomes in the form of some products which have already come to the market and some promising research leads seeing ray of hope for commercialization.