Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

Choose the right route

• Udgam is the standing scheme. Use it if you want grant-in-aid to take an energy or petroleum-related idea from proof of concept towards commercialisation.
• The HP Sahayog Startup Challenge is a themed competition with IIT Kanpur's SIIC. It is for DPIIT-registered startups and has had its own dates, so check whether a new edition is announced.

How applications work

• Apply only through the HPCL Start-up portal. Applications sent any other way are not screened.
• Register first. Keep your PAN or Aadhaar, mobile number and address ready.
• Online applications are invited in rounds. Check which round is open before you prepare your proposal.

Check eligibility before you start

• Individuals must be Indian citizens, and the Project Leader needs a graduate or post-graduate degree in engineering, chemistry, biotechnology or the sciences.
• If you are employed, arrange a no-objection certificate or a resignation undertaking.
• Companies must be at least 51 per cent owned by resident Indian citizens or Indian companies, and need in-house R&D or a plan for incubation.
• HPCL backs an applicant once. If you or your company have already had HPCL support, you cannot apply for funding again.

How selection works

• Proposals are screened and evaluated, then shortlisted applicants present to an HPCL committee.
• Due diligence follows, and funds are released milestone by milestone into a dedicated no-lien account. Plan your work in milestones.

What reviewers look for

• A real link to primary energy, petroleum refining, marketing or alternate energy.
• A clear proof-of-concept plan, or an established proof of concept, with a route to commercialisation or implementation.
• For the challenge: a product or prototype designed and developed in India, with IP you own, that does not copy anything already launched or patented.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise that sells fuels, LPG and lubricants across India and runs its own refineries. Its startup programme, HP Udgam, helps innovators and entrepreneurs test an idea, validate a proof of concept and move towards commercialisation. HPCL also runs an innovation challenge for startups called HP Sahayog, with the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre at IIT Kanpur (SIIC).

How HP Udgam works

HPCL formulated its Startup India scheme in 2017 under the name Udgam, in line with the Government of India's Startup India initiative. The scheme is meant for people who want to pursue a promising idea, establish and validate a proof of concept, and then support commercialisation. HPCL also says it wants to help projects that already have an established proof of concept reach commercialisation or implementation.

The initial support HPCL offers is grant-in-aid, and the scheme states that no royalty is charged on the money released. Funds are released milestone by milestone into a dedicated no-lien account, not as a single payment. Its pages describe the work HPCL has backed as seed-stage support, and say that many of the supported startups have gone on to raise Series A or Series B rounds.

The focus is innovation relevant to primary energy, petroleum refining, marketing and alternate energy. This is a corporate scheme built around HPCL's own business, so an idea that has nothing to do with those areas is unlikely to fit.

Who can apply

Udgam accepts two kinds of applicant.

Individuals must be Indian citizens. The primary applicant is the Project Leader. Someone who is employed needs a no-objection certificate from the employer or an undertaking to resign. An individual with a controlling stake in an ineligible company cannot apply as an individual.

Companies must be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 or 2013. At least 51 per cent of the capital must be beneficially owned by resident Indian citizens, Indian companies or both. The company must either have working in-house R&D facilities or have a plan for incubation.

The Project Leader must have completed a graduate or post-graduate course in engineering, chemistry, biotechnology or the sciences.

HPCL supports an individual or a company once. Someone who has already received HPCL support under the scheme is not eligible for funding from HPCL again.

How selection works

Applications are considered only if they come through the HPCL Start-up portal. Registration on the portal asks for your name, address, PIN code, state, email, mobile number and PAN or Aadhaar. Applications that reach HPCL by any other route are not considered for screening.

Applications are screened and evaluated, and shortlisted applicants present their proposal to an HPCL committee. Due diligence follows. After selection, support is released against milestones.

Application rounds

Online applications are invited in rounds. The portal has named the open round in different ways at different times, including a 2025 second round, so check the portal for the round that is open now before you start. A round that has closed will not take new applications.

HP Sahayog Startup Challenge

HP Sahayog is an innovation challenge run under Udgam in collaboration with SIIC, IIT Kanpur. It is aimed at startups and ran in December 2023 and January 2024. It asks entrants to build inventive, sustainable solutions to problems HPCL faces in oil and gas. Nine problem themes were listed, including assessing the business potential of retail outlets, managing electric vehicle charging stations, internal corrosion in refinery piping circuits, and any other problem in petroleum refining and marketing.

Entrants had to be startups registered with DPIIT, with a product or prototype designed and developed in India. Any patent or other IP in the product had to be owned by the Indian company applying. The product could not copy a product already launched, copyrighted or patented.

This challenge is narrower than Udgam on one point. An individual or team that is not part of a startup could join only in association with a startup, and the startup founder had to be present at the jury rounds. Udgam itself has a full individual-applicant route, so the two sets of rules differ.

Besides rewards, the most innovative startups could be chosen for pilot projects with HPCL's strategic business units, subject to detailed due diligence. Selected startups could also get incubation, mentoring, access to funding schemes and procurement support for prototyping and piloting, under the guidance of SIIC, IIT Kanpur.

Scale and pilot opportunities

HPCL says it has supported 24 startups with seed-stage funding to date, and that many have since reached Series A or B funding. That figure is HPCL's own and comes from its challenge pages, which date the challenge to late 2023 and early 2024, so the true current number may be higher.

What HPCL can offer a startup beyond funding is a large operating network to pilot in. It lists 21,242 retail outlets, 6,289 LPG distributorships, 55 LPG bottling plants, 44 terminals, 54 aviation fuel stations, 39 inland relay depots, 33 exclusive lube depots, 5 lube blending plants and a pipeline network of 4,435 km, as well as 2,144 EV charging stations.

Where HPCL works

HPCL owns and runs refineries at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Its HP Green R&D Centre in Bengaluru is its research facility for driving innovation.