Government Incubators in India
421 government incubators in India. Government incubators are run by a state agency or a central scheme, which is often the route into scheme-linked seed support and into departments that buy from startups. Check each one's eligibility and application window; many run on a fixed annual calendar, and some are limited to startups registered in the state.
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)
DPIIT, under India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, runs Startup India: it issues startup recognition and operates the seed, loan-guarantee, IP and tax schemes that recognition unlocks.
iStart Rajasthan
Rajasthan's government startup platform — registration, free incubation at Techno Hub and the iStart Nest centres, and the state's startup policy schemes.
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Kerala Startup Mission
Kerala's government startup agency, running the state's grant ladder, incubation and acceleration tracks, and fablabs from Thiruvananthapuram.
KBITS, Government of Karnataka
Not-for-profit under Karnataka's Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T, with an acceleration network, a seed fund and a platform for districts beyond Bengaluru.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
The Government of India's electronics and IT ministry, which backs technology startups through MeitY Startup Hub with the TIDE 2.0, GENESIS and SAMRIDH schemes.
NITI Aayog
The Government of India's policy think tank, home to the Atal Innovation Mission and its incubator, challenge and fellowship programmes.
Gujarat Student Startup and Innovation Hub (i-Hub)
Gujarat's state incubation hub for student founders, running seed grants, incubation and mentoring under the Student Startup and Innovation Policy from Ahmedabad.
Defence Innovation Organisation
Section 8 company under the Ministry of Defence that runs iDEX: grant-in-aid challenges (DISC, ADITI, Open Challenge) for startups, MSMEs and individual innovators building defence technology.
Pusa Krishi (ICAR-IARI)
The agribusiness incubator of ICAR-IARI in New Delhi, running cohort programmes for agriculture and agri-tech founders from idea stage to incubation.
AIC Anand Foundation
Agri and food business incubator at Anand Agricultural University, and Gujarat's state-level RKVY agribusiness incubation centre.
AIC–Nalanda Institute of Technology Foundation
An Atal Incubation Centre in Bhubaneswar running pre-incubation, acceleration and seed-fund tracks for Odisha's founders.
Indigram Labs Foundation
A DST-backed technology business incubator in New Delhi for agri, food, climate and rural-health startups.
HARTRON
Haryana government electronics corporation that runs a startup incubation hub in Gurugram with NASSCOM, for technology product startups with a working MVP. Seats carry a monthly fee.
NaaViC, ICAR-NIVEDI
The agri-business incubation centre at ICAR-NIVEDI, Bengaluru, for animal health, veterinary and agri startups.
Nasscom AI Centre of Excellence, Gandhinagar
Government-backed AI and Industry 4.0 centre at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, running the GrowX accelerator and the AI Innovation Challenge for deep-tech startups.
RKVY-RAFTAAR Agri-Business Incubator (R-ABI), IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Agri-business incubator on the IIT (BHU) Varanasi campus, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, running pre-seed, seed and student programmes for agriculture and allied-sector ventures.
Electropreneur Park
MeitY-funded electronics hardware incubator in Delhi, run by STPI from the IIIT Delhi campus, with pre-incubation, incubation and virtual incubation for ESDM startups.
IITM Pravartak Technologies Foundation
DST Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Madras backing cyber-physical systems startups in sensors, networking, actuators and control systems.
NSUT Innovation and Incubation Foundation (NSUT-IIF)
The incubator of Netaji Subhas University of Technology in Dwarka, New Delhi — a Section 8 company running two-year incubation with seed support.
Ministry of Textiles
Central ministry running NTTM and the GREAT scheme providing grants to startups innovating in technical textiles for commercialisation.
Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Haryana
Haryana's nodal industries department, running Startup Haryana: state registration, seed grants, cost reimbursements and incubator support.
T-Hub
Telangana's not-for-profit startup hub in Hyderabad, running corporate, sector and venture-studio programmes without taking equity.
Department of IT and E-Governance, Government of Jharkhand
The Government of Jharkhand's IT department, which runs the Jharkhand Startup Policy 2023 through the ABVIL startup portal in Ranchi: idea-stage stipends, prototype and scale-up grants, and reimbursements of rent, power, internet and patent costs for Jharkhand startups.
Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Punjab
Punjab's Department of Industries & Commerce, which runs the Punjab Start-up Cell and the state's startup policy benefits, including registration and seed grants.
IHFC, IIT Delhi
IIT Delhi's DST-funded Technology Innovation Hub for cobotics — pre-seed, incubation and deep-tech funding calls for robotics, AI and drone founders.
BIRAC
Central government funder for Indian biotech — grants from idea to proof of concept, equity through partner incubators, and the BioNEST bio-incubation network.
Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
Government of India department under the Ministry of Science & Technology that supports biotech fellowships, research calls and the BioE3 challenge.
Department of Industries, Government of Bihar
Bihar's industries department, which runs the Bihar Start-up Policy 2022 and the Mukhyamantri Udyami Yojanas: seed and early-stage support for start-ups, and part-grant schemes for individual entrepreneurs.
StartupTN
Tamil Nadu's state startup mission — seed funding, mentoring, procurement access and ten regional hubs, for startups registered in the state.
EDII, Tamil Nadu
EDII-TN is Tamil Nadu's state entrepreneurship institute in Chennai, running innovation vouchers, a one-year certificate course, a school innovation project and dated paid training batches.
Defence Public Sector Undertakings
The Defence Public Sector Undertakings, administered by the Department of Defence Production. DRISHTI problem statements come from the DPSUs; iDEX is run by DIO.
Department of Agricultural Marketing & Agri Business, Government of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu government department behind an agri-tech startup grant and capital subsidies for agri-enterprises.
Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH)
Andhra Pradesh's government innovation hub in Amaravati, with five spokes, running incubation, student and challenge programmes.
Technology Development Board (TDB)
India's statutory body for commercialising home-grown technology: it finances Indian companies mainly by soft loan, sometimes equity, rarely by grant.
Backward Classes Development Department, Government of Kerala
Kerala government department for Backward Classes welfare, running education and traditional-trade livelihood schemes for individuals.
Department of Science & Technology
India's apex S&T ministry funding science-driven startups from prototype to scale via NIDHI and NSTEDB.
Tamil Nadu Technology Hub (iTNT Hub)
Tamil Nadu's state-run deep-tech network, taking founders from idea validation through incubation to acceleration and seed funding.
WE Hub
The Government of Telangana's incubator for women entrepreneurs, running pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration cohorts from Hyderabad.
Department of MSME, Government of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh's state department for MSMEs, which runs the state startup policy and its seed, patent, lease, incubator and accelerator support.
AI & AgriTech Innovation Center
Maharashtra government centre for AI and agri-technology policy, running the state's AI4Agri conference; incubation sits with separate centres at four state agricultural universities.
Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)
India's government research funding body, successor to SERB. Mostly grants for academic researchers; startups can join mission programmes, and MAHA MedTech accepts DPIIT startups as lead applicants.
BRIC-CDFD
Life-sciences incubator inside the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Uppal, Hyderabad, with lab benches, animal-house and genomics access, and no equity taken.
Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC)
Karnataka's government-run life-sciences incubator at Helix Biotech Park, Electronic City, with wet labs, shared instruments and a cGMP manufacturing facility.
C-DAC
Government R&D organisation under MeitY that licenses its technology, runs PG training courses and is technology partner for MeitY's Blockchain India Challenge.
DSIR
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, under the Ministry of Science and Technology: runs PRISM and other schemes for industrial R&D, plus recognitions and tax approvals.
Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC)
Autonomous pollution regulator for the National Capital Territory of Delhi, in existence since 1991. It issues consent certificates to industry and ran a closed 2025 innovation challenge on cutting PM2.5 and PM10.
Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation
Government department under the Ministry of Jal Shakti driving Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen for universal rural water and sanitation coverage.
Department of Pharmaceuticals
Central government department under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers that runs research, manufacturing and bulk drug schemes for pharma and medical devices.
By state
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Working with a government incubator in India
Government incubators are set up or funded by a state agency, a central ministry or a public scheme. Their strength is access: many are the channel through which scheme-linked seed support reaches startups, and they sit close to the departments and public bodies that can become early customers. Their programmes tend to follow a published calendar and published eligibility rules, which makes them easier to plan around than invitation-only programmes.
That structure has a cost in speed. Intake windows are fixed, selection can take weeks, and the paperwork asks for registration documents and a clear description of what the startup does. If you are applying to more than one, keep your company documents and a one-page summary ready, so a second application is a small job rather than a fresh start.
Eligibility is where government incubators differ most. Some are open to any registered startup, some prefer startups registered in the state, some are tied to a sector such as agriculture, electronics or biotech, and some are meant for particular groups of founders. The government incubators listed for India above vary on exactly these points, so read the eligibility on each profile rather than assuming one set of rules applies to all of them.
The numbers on this page
- 421 of the 2755 organisations we list in India (15%) are tagged "Government".
- By stage focus, the most common are Ideation (108), Validation (104) and Early Revenue (84).
- By sector, the most listed are AgriTech (61), Deep Tech (43) and Manufacturing (36).
- By state, most are in Delhi (93), Gujarat (33) and Maharashtra (29).
- By city, most are in Delhi (80), Bengaluru (21) and Chennai (18).
- Many are also tagged Incubator (138) and Academic (87), so the same organisation can appear on more than one list.
- 38 of 421 offer coworking space on site.
What to confirm before applying to a government incubator
- Is the startup required to be registered in a particular state, or recognised under a particular scheme?
- Is there a sector restriction, or a preference for certain kinds of founder?
- When does the next intake open and close, and how long does selection take?
- What support is on offer: space, mentoring, facilities, access to funding routes?
- Is there a fee, an equity expectation, or a revenue-sharing arrangement?
- What reporting does the incubator expect from you during the programme?
Frequently asked questions
How many government incubators are there in India?
We list 421 government incubators in India, out of 2755 startup support organisations we list there. The count updates as profiles are added and verified.
Where in India are most government incubators based?
Counting the profiles on this page, most are in Delhi (93), Gujarat (33) and Maharashtra (29).
Are government incubators in India free to join?
Terms differ by programme. Some charge nothing, some charge a modest fee for space or services, and some take a small stake. The terms are set by each incubator and should be on its profile or application page, so confirm them before you apply.
Can any startup apply to a government incubator?
Not always. Many require the startup to be a registered entity, and some limit entry by state, sector or founder profile. Read the eligibility section of each programme before preparing an application.