What are Grants? 

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.

The SIP-EIT scheme was launched by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (“DeiTY”) with the aim of providing government funding to technology startups and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSME”) in India for filing international patents. This encourages innovation, builds brand recognition, and recognizes the importance and potential of having global intellectual property protection.

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. 

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.

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

The main objectives of the Scheme are: (a) To facilitate setting up of agribusiness ventures in close association with all banks/ financial institutions notified by the Reserve Bank of India where the ownership of the Central/State Government is more than 50% such as Nationalized banks, SBI & its subsidiaries, IDBI, SIDBI, NABARD, NCDC, NEDFi, Exim Bank, RRBs & State Financial Corporations. (b) To catalyze private investment in setting up of agribusiness projects and thereby providing assured market to producers for increasing rural income & employment. (c) To strengthen backward linkages of agribusiness projects with producers. (d) To assist farmers, producer groups, and agriculture graduates to enhance their participation in value chain through Project Development Facility. (e) To arrange training and visits, etc. of agripreneurs in setting up identified agribusiness projects. (f) To augment and strengthen existing set up of State and Central SFAC. Small Farmer’s Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) has launched the Venture Capital Assistance (VCA) scheme for the welfare of farmer-entrepreneurs and to develop their agri-business. The scheme is approved by the banks and financial institutions regulated by the RBI. It intends to provide assistance in the form of term loans to farmers so that the latter can meet the capital requirements for their project's implementation. VCA promotes the training and nurturing of agri-entrepreneurs. The quantum of the loan will be 26% (40% for hilly regions) of the promoter’s equity. The maximum amount of loan provided under this scheme will be INR 50 lakhs.

This grant programme aims to encourage the commercialization of research discoveries by offering funding at an early point in the development process.

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).

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.

This scheme aims to support and invite new ideas and proposals which carry the potential to have a broad impact in the domains of science and technology. It lays emphasis on proposals that are new and risky, but if successful, can be highly rewarding for the field of science.

Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) is jointly set up by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to catalyse flow of institutional credit to Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs). Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) was launched to strengthen credit delivery system and to facilitate flow of credit to the MSE sector, create access to finance for unserved, under-served and underprivileged, making availability of finance from conventional lenders to new generation entrepreneurs. Over the past 20 years, CGTMSE has been instrumental in providing guarantee cover to collateral and/or third party guarantee free credit facilities extended by eligible Member Lending Institution [MLIs] to MSEs.

Amrita TBI funds, mentors and nurtures startups and entrepreneurs at the early and growth stage. It is a non-profit startup incubator. It is partly supported by GoI and partly supported by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

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#

Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) banks have been created to enhance credit facilities and boost the growth of small businesses in rural areas. The government has introduced this scheme to support small businesses in India. In 2015, the government allocated INR 10,000 crores to promote startup culture in the country. The MUDRA banks provide startup loans of up to INR 10 lakhs to small enterprises, and businesses, which are non-corporate, and non-farm small/micro-enterprises. MUDRA comes under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) which was launched on 8 April 2015. The loans have been categorized as Tarun, Kishore, and Shishu. The assets are created through the bank’s finance and there is no collateral security. Under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), MUDRA has created products/ schemes. The interventions have been named 'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth to look forward to : Shishu : covering loans upto 50,000/- Kishor : covering loans above 50,000/- and upto 5 lakh Tarun : covering loans above 5 lakh and upto 10 lakh

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’.

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.

This non-profit supports early-stage social entrepreneurs in the first 0-5 years. Selected enterprises are provided induction workshops, helped with milestone setting, offered personalized coaching, site visits, networking, funding, and other support

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 formed a fund of INR 10,000 Crores to accelerate the growth of the Indian startup ecosystem. The Fund was set up as a Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS). FFS does not invest in startups directly but provides capital to SEBI-registered Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs), known as daughter funds, which in turn invest money in high-potential Indian startups. SIDBI has been given the mandate of managing the FFS through the selection of daughter funds and overseeing the disbursal of committed capital. Funding is provided to startups across different life cycles.

The NRDC proposes to participate in the equity share capital of start-up and early stage growth focused, innovative companies. It proposes to invest in innovative entrepreneurs at the crucial stage where the ventures are just getting off the ground. It is high stake investing, which can result in unexpected returns. The NRDC attempts to create the best possible environment for high impact entrepreneurs to start and grow their business. The scheme supports innovations that has the potential to build and shape the development of technology driven entrepreneurs. Through this scheme, the NRDC would select start ups and early stage companies and provides a part of the capital required, as Seed funding to innovators, who prima facie have the potential to develop into significant technical and commercial entities.