Grants for incubators in India: schemes and amounts

Most incubators in India are built on public money, but no single page lists where that money comes from. Each ministry runs its own scheme, with its own rules on who can apply and how much it pays.

This hub collects the main ones in one place, from each scheme's official page or guidelines. Our deeper guides cover three of them in detail.

What grants can incubators get in India?

Incubators can get grants from AIM, DST, DPIIT, MeitY, BIRAC and the MSME ministry, plus state startup policies. The largest are AIM's Atal Incubation Centre grant of up to Rs 10 crore and DST's NIDHI-TBI support of up to Rs 1500 lakh. The table gives who can apply and the headline amount for each.

Scheme	Who can apply	Headline amount
AIM Atal Incubation Centre	Legal entities at least 3 years old: institutions, corporates, SEBI-registered AIFs, accelerators	Up to Rs 5 crore, or Rs 10 crore with a sector lab, over 5 years
AIM Established Incubation Centre	Incubators operating for at least 3 years	Up to Rs 10 crore, in yearly instalments
DST NIDHI-TBI	Not-for-profit body hosted by an academic, technical or R&D institution	Up to Rs 1500 lakh (public institutions) or Rs 1150 lakh (others)
DST NIDHI seed support	NIDHI-TBIs with at least five incubatees	Up to Rs 1000 lakh per incubator
Startup India Seed Fund Scheme	Incubators operating 2 years, with 25 seats and 5 resident startups	Up to Rs 5 crore, plus a 5% management fee
MeitY TIDE 2.0	Institutes of higher learning and R&D organisations	Rs 264.62 crore across 51 incubators
MeitY SAMRIDH	Accelerators	Up to Rs 40 lakh per startup, one-to-one with the accelerator's or investor's own money
MeitY GENESIS	Implementing agencies in Tier-II and Tier-III cities	Rs 490 crore across 65 agencies
BIRAC BioNEST	Universities, research bodies, incubators, biotech parks, state councils	Need-based grant for capital and running costs
MSME ASPIRE	Agencies setting up livelihood business incubators	Up to Rs 1 crore for machinery and up to Rs 1 crore for running costs

Which grants fund a new incubator, and which an existing one?

New incubators are funded mainly by AIM's Atal Incubation Centre scheme, DST's NIDHI-TBI, BIRAC's BioNEST and MSME's ASPIRE. Established incubators add the Seed Fund Scheme, AIM's Established Incubation Centre grant, NIDHI seed support and MeitY's sector schemes, which mostly pay for startup funding and programmes rather than buildings.

That split matters because the Seed Fund Scheme bars incubators from spending its grant on facilities. It is money for startups, routed through you. If you are still choosing a host and a legal form, start with our guide to starting an incubation centre in a college.

How much do AIM and DST pay incubators?

AIM pays up to Rs 5 crore for an Atal Incubation Centre without a lab and up to Rs 10 crore with a sector lab, over five years. DST's NIDHI-TBI support goes up to Rs 1500 lakh for public institutions and Rs 1150 lakh for others, with recurring support tapering from 100% to 40% by year five.

Under AIM's November 2023 guidelines, government applicants add nothing of their own, private academic applicants add at least 25% of the grant, and other private applicants add 100%. The applicant must provide 5,000 sq ft of ready space, or 10,000 sq ft with a lab. Our Atal Incubation Centre guidelines explainer covers the rest.

DST's NIDHI-TBI guidelines fund only not-for-profit hosts, ask for 20,000 sq ft of furnished space on a 30-year lease, and expect the incubator to run without DST money after five years. The January 2026 government backgrounder adds the seed support limit of Rs 1000 lakh per incubator and Rs 100 lakh per startup. See our NIDHI-TBI guidelines explainer.

Is the Seed Fund Scheme still open to incubators?

Not with fresh money for now. A Lok Sabha reply of July 2026 says the scheme's full Rs 945 crore corpus had been committed to 219 incubators by 30 June 2026. Those incubators had selected 4,245 startups with Rs 706.33 crore of approved funding. New incubators should watch for another round.

The figures are in the government's reply. The scheme guidelines let an incubator reapply once it has disbursed or committed its earlier grant. Our guide on how incubators apply to SISFS covers eligibility and the 20% cap on grants to startups.

What do MeitY and BIRAC offer incubators?

MeitY runs three schemes: TIDE 2.0 for incubators at institutes and labs, SAMRIDH for accelerators and GENESIS for Tier-II and Tier-III cities. BIRAC's BioNEST pays need-based grants to bio-incubators for equipment, space and running costs. Most of this money passes through the incubator to startups.

• TIDE 2.0: MeitY's February 2019 approval set Rs 264.62 crore over five years for 51 incubators in three groups: 6, 25 and 20 centres. Startups get up to Rs 4 lakh at idea stage, Rs 7 lakh for a prototype and Rs 40 lakh for product and market.
• SAMRIDH: the MeitY Startup Hub page targets 300 startups. Its first cohort had 22 accelerators across 12 states supporting 175 startups.
• GENESIS: a Lok Sabha reply of March 2025 describes Rs 490 crore over five years through 65 agencies, to scale about 1,600 startups.
• BioNEST: BIRAC's November 2025 guidelines ask private applicants for 30% of project cost and states for 50%, fund for up to three years with a possible two-year extension, and suggest about 10,000 sq ft. The BioNEST page counts 74 incubators supported.

What do state startup policies add?

State startup policies add smaller grants for events, upgrades and operating costs, usually for incubators inside that state. They are rarely as large as central schemes, but they are faster to win and can fill gaps the central grant does not cover. Amounts and rules change with each policy, so check the current version.

Madhya Pradesh is one example. A financial assistance note on Invest MP offers incubators Rs 5 lakh per startup event, up to Rs 20 lakh a year, and a one-time Rs 5 lakh to expand if they add 20% more seats. The MSME ministry's ASPIRE scheme, in the January 2026 backgrounder, covers livelihood incubators: up to Rs 1 crore for machinery for government agencies and Rs 75 lakh for private ones.

A grant pays for the first five years of an incubator. The plan for year six decides whether it survives.

What do incubator grants ask for in return?

Every scheme asks for something back: the applicant's own contribution, dedicated space, regular reports and a plan to run without the grant. AIM and DST both expect self-sufficiency after five years. AIM wants monthly KPIs and quarterly progress reports; DST wants a progress report and audited accounts every year.

Those reporting duties last as long as the grant, so build them in from the start. Our count of incubators in India by scheme shows how many centres already hold each of these grants.

Questions

Which government grants are available for incubators in India?

The main central grants are AIM's Atal Incubation Centre and Established Incubation Centre schemes, DST's NIDHI-TBI and NIDHI seed support, the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, MeitY's TIDE 2.0, SAMRIDH and GENESIS, BIRAC's BioNEST and MSME's ASPIRE. Many states add their own incubator grants through startup policies.

How much grant does an Atal Incubation Centre get?

Under AIM's November 2023 guidelines, an Atal Incubation Centre can get up to Rs 5 crore without a lab, or up to Rs 10 crore with a sector-specific lab, over five years. Private applicants must add their own money: at least 25% of the grant for academic bodies, 100% for others.

Can a private company get a NIDHI-TBI grant?

No. DST's NIDHI-TBI guidelines say support goes to a not-for-profit entity registered as a society, trust or section 8 company, and that DST does not fund for-profit incubators at present. The host institution must also be at least three years old, unless government created it.

Is the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme still open for incubators?

A Lok Sabha reply of July 2026 says the scheme's full Rs 945 crore corpus had been committed to 219 incubators by 30 June 2026. The guidelines let an incubator reapply once it has used or committed its earlier grant, so check DPIIT's site for any new round.

Sources: Atal Innovation Mission, Atal Incubation Centres page (last updated 3 Jan 2024) · Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Guidelines for Setting up of Atal Incubation Centres, Nov 2023 · DST, NIDHI Technology Business Incubator Guidelines and Proforma · Press Information Bureau, A Decade of Startup India (backgrounder), 15 Jan 2026 · DPIIT, Guidelines for Startup India Seed Fund Scheme · Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 1446 (DPIIT reply), 28 Jul 2026 · MeitY, Administrative Approval for TIDE 2.0, 1 Feb 2019 · MeitY Startup Hub, SAMRIDH and GENESIS scheme pages · Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No. 2240 (MeitY reply on GENESIS), 12 Mar 2025 · BIRAC, BioNEST page (last updated 1 Nov 2026) and BioNEST Guidelines version 4.0, 10 Nov 2025 · Invest MP, Financial Assistance for start-ups and incubators

For more on running an incubator in India, read the MyStartupValley blog or see MyStartupValley for incubators.