ABIS-TBI, R ABI Centre, TNAU, Coimbatore

Start by choosing the right route

ABIS-TBI runs several schemes, and each has its own entry rules. Match your situation first:

• An idea, and you want a funded orientation: the Agripreneurship Orientation Programme, or the Student Orientation Programme if you are a student. Both are announced as a cohort call, so watch the R-ABI page.
• An incubated startup with an MVP: the R-ABI seed-stage grant. It is open to incubatees, so becoming a member comes first.
• A DPIIT-recognised startup less than two years old: the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, applied for on the national portal with ABIS-TBI chosen as your incubator.
• A technology graduate ready to work full-time on a venture: the NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence fellowship.
• An idea or concept with no working product, especially a student or problem solver: the NIDHI-PRAYAS centre.
• A spice-based product or process: the Spices Incubation Centre.
• Anyone else in agriculture or allied sectors: paid incubator membership, which has no fixed intake.

How applications work

Membership is rolling: download the Member Registration Form from the Members page and submit it. The R-ABI orientation programmes are announced per cohort, and the last call on the site opened in April 2026 and has closed. Seed fund applications go through the national portal, and the pitch is made to the incubator's seed management committee. For the Spices Incubation Centre, the page describes submitting an application, a technical screening, a pitch to the appraisal committee and then milestone approval, but gives no window. For PRAYAS and the NIDHI fellowship, the incubator's pages do not state an intake date, so write to the incubator first.

How selection works

• R-ABI seed grants: the incubator's R-ABI Incubation Committee evaluates incubatees on consistent performance.
• Startup India Seed Fund Scheme: screening by the incubator, then a pitch before its Incubator Seed Management Committee.
• Spices Incubation Centre: technical screening, then a pitch before the Incubation Appraisal Committee.

Things to check before you apply

• Agriculture and allied ventures only. Other sectors are not supported.
• Services are for paying members, and office space carries a usage fee.
• Each scheme limits how much earlier government seed support you may have received. A startup supported by one R-ABI seed round cannot take another at any R-ABI.
• Register at the incubator in time: the fellowship requires registration for the whole fellowship period, and the R-ABI seed grant is for incubatees.
• Contact the incubator on tbi-abis@tnau.ac.in or the office number on its site to confirm which calls are open.

ABIS-Technology Business Incubator (ABIS-TBI), also called the Agribusiness Incubation Society, is the startup incubator of the Directorate of Agribusiness Development at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore. It is one of the RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABI) recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and it also hosts several national schemes for early-stage founders. It works only with agriculture and allied ventures.

How programmes work

ABIS-TBI is a route into several separate schemes rather than one programme. Each has its own eligibility, and most are tied to a government scheme the incubator implements.

Under the R-ABI scheme it runs three tracks. The Student Orientation Programme and the Agripreneurship Orientation Programme are each a two-month training-cum-internship with hands-on exposure to startups already at the incubator, followed by pre-seed funding for those who complete it. The Startup Agribusiness Incubation Programme (SAIP) gives seed-stage grant-in-aid to incubated startups that already have a minimum viable product. The R-ABI page announced a call for the orientation programmes in April 2026, and that call has since closed. It announced no separate SAIP call, so check with the incubator before planning around one.

It is also an approved incubator under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. In that role it screens and selects startups, disburses seed funds and monitors milestones, with funds released as milestones are met. Startups apply through the national seed fund portal and name ABIS-TBI as their preferred incubator.

On the Department of Science and Technology side, ABIS-TBI hosts the NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence fellowship, which has run at the incubator since 2020–21, and a NIDHI-PRAYAS centre, which has been funded by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board since 2023. PRAYAS offers prototype funding and a fabrication lab for people with an idea but no working product yet.

It is also recognised as a Spices Incubation Centre funded by the Spices Board of India. Grant support goes to a small number of spice startups chosen by an appraisal committee. The page refers to the 2024–25 financial year and states no application window.

The core service for founders outside these schemes is paid membership of the incubator. Membership gives access to mentoring, training, intellectual property and branding support, market linkages and the incubator's facilities.

Who can apply

Membership is open to outside founders, not only TNAU students. There are four categories: individuals without a registered company and students; firms, LLPs, farmer producer organisations and companies, NGOs and self-help groups; private and public limited companies; and multinational or foreign companies. Services are offered only to paying members. The incubator does not support non-agricultural ventures.

The government schemes have narrower rules. Seed fund applicants must be DPIIT-recognised, incorporated within the last two years, hold at least 51 percent Indian promoter shareholding and have an innovative technology-driven solution. The Entrepreneur-in-Residence fellowship is for Indian-citizen graduates who commit full-time to a technology-based business idea and are registered at the incubator for the whole fellowship. R-ABI seed grants are for incubated, DPIIT-notified Indian startups that have a working MVP, and a startup supported once is not eligible for a second seed round at any R-ABI.

Facilities and support

Incubatees can take in-house office space at the incubator for a usage fee. The incubator has a food packaging laboratory, used for packaging work and not for product testing. Product testing is done in TNAU's own laboratories at concessional rates for members, so the university's labs are the host institution's, not the incubator's.

NIDHI fellows get office and co-working space. The PRAYAS centre runs a fabrication lab called PRAYAS Shala, with slots that can be booked on the programme page. The TBI-Incubatee Product Promotional Centre, opened on 20 May 2024, is a dedicated space for showing incubatee products to buyers. Beyond this, ABIS-TBI describes support with intellectual property such as patents, trademarks and branding, and exposure through workshops, expos and pitching events.

The incubator's site also carries pages on schemes run by other bodies, including TANSEED, PMFME and the Tamil Nadu Innovation Voucher Programme. ABIS-TBI is named as a knowledge partner for the voucher programme, which is run by the Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute of Tamil Nadu.

Scale

ABIS-TBI's own pages give different counts. Its home page says it has nurtured over 650 startups, its About page says over 620, and its Members page lists more than 600 members, of which over 300 are startups. None of the counts is dated, so read them as rough orders of magnitude and not as a settled total.

The R-ABI figures also differ. The R-ABI page lists 131 beneficiaries, while a TNAU press note dated 9 July 2026 reports grants sanctioned to 165 startups across seven cohorts, and the incubator's funding page shows the same 165. The NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence page lists 31 beneficiaries.

Who runs it

The site names Mr A. V. Gnanasambandam as Managing Director and CEO. The incubator sits within TNAU's Directorate of Agribusiness Development and says it has been functioning since 2011, with funding from the Department of Science and Technology to support agripreneurs.

Location and contact

ABIS-TBI is at the Directorate of Agribusiness Development, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003. The office is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The role inbox is tbi-abis@tnau.ac.in.