Agri-Business Incubation Centre (ABI), ICAR-IIHR

Start with the technology, not the form

• Pick the IIHR technology first. Incubation is only open to licensees of an ICAR-IIHR technology, so browse the technology list and licensing terms before you contact the BPD Unit.
• Mushroom founders can skip the licence only if they are ICAR-IIHR mushroom trainees.
• Check the extra approvals. Biopesticides need a separate production licence, and any non-Indian participation in your company needs National Biodiversity Authority approval.

Choose the model

• On-site: you use the institute's space, lab and equipment for an initial six months, extendable to a maximum of one year. Best when you cannot yet run production yourself.
• Off-site: you produce from your own premises and the institute's officers visit to advise. You cannot sell through the institute's sales counters.
• Mushroom spawn: a per-day or per-batch rental for the spawn lab, open to IIHR mushroom trainees.

How the process works

• Pick your membership category by the type of organisation you are, from individual to foreign company.
• Pay the annual membership and the refundable caution deposit, and fill the BPD membership form.
• Sign an MOU with the Nodal Officer of the BPD Unit.
• Selection is first-come, first-served by the date you submit your request, so ask early. Room availability is announced through circulars that are not dated, so confirm that a room is free before planning around it.

Before you commit

• Ask the unit to confirm the current sales commission, because its pages give two different rates.
• Ask whether you would be incubated by this ABI or by the separate BESST-HORT incubator on the same campus; the terms differ.
• Treat the success stories as examples, not benchmarks. They are undated and self-reported.
• Register free for the BPD update list if you only want news of incubation, events and webinars.

The Agri-Business Incubation Centre (ABI) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (ICAR-IIHR) is a facility of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at the institute's campus in Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru. It was created through ICAR's National Agriculture Innovation Fund, and it started operations in May 2013. Its job is to take technologies developed at IIHR to the market: it licenses them, nurtures horticulture-based ventures, and offers horti-business consultancy through incubation. On the institute's website it is listed as the On-Site Incubation Facility, and the page is titled BPD, Business Planning and Development. The unit is also called the HTM-BPD and the BPD Unit.

Not the same as BESST-HORT

ICAR-IIHR also has a technology business incubator on the same campus, BESST-HORT, with its own website, rules and fee schedule. The ABI described here is run by the institute's own technology management and business planning unit. If you are weighing the two, ask which one would incubate you before you commit.

The gate: you need an ICAR-IIHR technology

The ABI is not an open-door incubator. Its guidelines say that to become an incubatee, the client must purchase technology from ICAR-IIHR, that is, become an IIHR licensee. The only exception is the mushroom route, where the incubatee must be a trainee of ICAR-IIHR on mushroom production. Licences come from the institute's technology management unit (ITMU). They are non-exclusive and run for five years, after which a fresh licence is needed to keep producing and selling. The unit lists 255 technologies across six theme areas: seed and planting materials, post-harvest technologies, biopesticides, plant health management, farm implements and machinery, and biotechnological products. The centre's focus areas run from vegetable, flower, fruit and medicinal crop cultivars to crop nutrition and protection, post-harvest work, farm machinery and mushroom production.

How incubation works

There are two models. In on-site incubation, a selected member gets technology up-scaling facilities at the institute, including infrastructure, space and technical inputs, with the scientist who developed the technology working closely with the client. The member can also sell through the institute's sales network, the Agricultural Technology Information Centre (ATIC). Space is allotted for an initial six months, and the Director of ICAR-IIHR can extend it up to a maximum of one year. Incubatees are chosen first-come, first-served by the day they submit a request, with preference for diverse technologies so that different products are available at ATIC.

Off-site incubation is for a licensee who works from their own premises. It offers similar services on payment, except permission to sell through the institute's sales counters. The institute's technology transfer officers and the scientist innovators visit the client's site to advise on scaling up the licensed technology.

The services that sit around both models are hand-holding for six months to one year, help writing bankable proposals, introductions to consultants and markets, advice on regulatory requirements, standards and compliance, patent search and filing support, and promotion at trade fairs, exhibitions and industry meets.

Mushroom spawn incubation

A separate set of guidelines covers the mushroom lab's spawn incubation facility. The incubatee must be an ICAR-IIHR mushroom trainee. The initial period is six months, extended to a maximum of one year. Charges are per day or per batch of bags, inputs can be bought on payment, and the centre does not provide manpower.

Who can join, and what it costs

Membership is paid every year and falls in five categories. Category A is for individual start-up innovators, individual farmers and individual entrepreneurs. Category B covers start-up companies, groups of farmers and self help groups, and NGOs. Category C is for MSMEs and firms, Category D for large companies, and Category E for multinational and foreign companies. The fee rises with the category. On top of membership there is a refundable caution deposit, a monthly rental for on-site space that covers lab, equipment, scientific services and production space, and a commission on sales made through ATIC. The centre's pages state the sales share two different ways, so confirm it before you sign. A separate MOU is signed with the Nodal Officer of the BPD Unit.

Nothing on the site restricts applicants by state or by company age, and individuals can join. A licensee with any non-Indian participation in management or investment needs approval from the National Biodiversity Authority. A licensee producing biopesticides must also hold a licence from the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee, Faridabad, for commercial production.

Who has used it

The centre names ventures such as Hi7 Agri Bio Solutions, Krishi Biosys, Bloom Biotech, Leaf Box, Samhita Soil Solutions and Ecophytocare India, most of them built on bio-inputs licensed from the institute. Its page also lists current incubatees and notes that some earlier ventures have closed or gone dormant. Neither list is dated, and the turnover figures the page quotes are self-reported, so we do not repeat them.

Contact and location

The centre is at ICAR-IIHR, Hesaraghatta Lake Post, Bengaluru 560089. Write to the BPD Unit at its role inbox on the page or call the institute exchange and ask for the BPD Unit. The centre also invites a free registration to receive updates about incubation, events, entrepreneurship development programmes and webinars; this registration is separate from paid membership.