ICAR Indian Institute of Spices Research

Choose where to start

• ITM-ABI membership and incubation is the route for anyone with an agriculture-based idea or an enterprise in the spices value chain. Corporates, NGOs, cooperatives, self-help groups, startups, individual entrepreneurs and farmers can all be members.
• I'mpower is the institute's facility for women and youth in agri-business, offering mentoring, training, infrastructure access and market linkage. Eligibility, fees, duration and an application route are not published for it, so ask the Agribusiness Incubation Unit how to enter.
• The micronutrient production and training facility and iFAME are shared production and training units rather than programmes with an intake. Approach them if you need pilot-scale production or hands-on training in formulation, quality testing, packaging, labelling and marketing.

How applications work

• Fill in the ITM-ABI membership form and send it to the Agribusiness Incubation Unit at the institute. Membership is fee-based, with rates that vary by member category.
• There is no published intake calendar. Applications run through the membership process rather than a dated cohort.
• Your application is evaluated by the Advisory Board or the ITM-ABI committee, which recommends the most eligible applicant for final approval.

What reviewers look for

• An agriculture-based concept or idea, with commercial feasibility in the business proposal
• Novelty, which the guidelines list as preferred
• A qualification or background in agriculture or food processing, also listed as preferred
• Indian or PIO nationality
• A proposal that fits with IISR's facilities
• Applicants free of any illegal or objectionable background

Before you sign anything

• Every incubatee enters into a benefit-sharing agreement with the incubator. The modalities are agreed before the incubation agreement and the terms are not published, so ask what they are before you commit.
• Mentorship of a scientific, technical or commercial nature is chargeable when you take it without the laboratory or research facilities.
• The ITM-ABI address on the IISR campus cannot be used as your company's registered office.
• Tenure is normally two years, extendable by a year in special cases. A separate clause in the same guidelines says the agreed term cannot exceed two years — confirm which applies to you.
• The unit facilitates access to funding sources, including grants, loans, equity and venture capital. That is facilitation and introductions, not a promise of funding.

ICAR – Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) is a research institute of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, working from Marikunnu P.O. in Kozhikode, Kerala. Its Agribusiness Incubation Unit, the Institute Technology Management–Agri Business Incubator (ITM-ABI), was established under the National Agricultural Innovation Fund scheme of ICAR to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the spices sector. Entrepreneurs, startups, companies, cooperatives, self-help groups and farmers working along the spices value chain can approach it for membership and incubation.

How programmes work

ITM-ABI runs a membership and incubation route rather than dated cohorts. A candidate fills in the membership form and sends it to the unit. Applications are evaluated by the Advisory Board or the ITM-ABI committee, and the most eligible applicant is recommended for final approval. No intake calendar is published, so there is no fixed window to wait for.

Incubation is normally for two years, extendable by another year in special cases depending on the progress of the project. Another clause in the same guidelines says the agreed term cannot exceed two years, so the two accounts of tenure are worth reconciling before you sign. Each incubatee enters into a benefit-sharing agreement with the incubator; the modalities are agreed before the incubation agreement, and the terms are not published.

Membership and space are fee-based, with rates that vary by member category. Mentorship and guidance of a scientific, technical or commercial nature is chargeable when it is taken without the laboratory or research facilities. The unit also facilitates access to funding sources, including grants, loans, equity and venture capital.

Who can apply

Membership categories cover corporates, NGOs, cooperatives, self-help groups, startups, individual entrepreneurs and farmers. The incubation guidelines ask for an agriculture-based concept or idea, commercial feasibility of the business proposal, and Indian or PIO nationality. Novelty is preferred. A qualification or background in agriculture or food processing is preferred. The proposal should have synergy with IISR's facilities, and applicants are expected to be free from any illegal or objectionable background.

I'mpower, the institute's incubation facility for women entrepreneurship and development, is meant for women-led startups and youth in agri-business. It supports them through mentoring, training, infrastructure access and market linkage. Dr S R Maneesha, a scientist at the institute, is in charge of women entrepreneurship development under the unit's project. Eligibility rules, fees, duration and an application route for I'mpower are not published, so interested founders should ask the Agribusiness Incubation Unit how to enter it.

Facilities

Incubatees get 75 sq ft of office space on an individual basis. The ITM-ABI address inside the IISR campus cannot be used as the registered office of the incubatee company.

The institute runs a pilot plant for micronutrients, a unit that produces customised micronutrient mixtures for spice crops. It also serves as a training unit where agri-startups and entrepreneurs receive hands-on training in micronutrient formulation, quality testing, packaging, labelling and marketing, under the guidance of soil scientists and entrepreneurs. The unit has incubated several rural micronutrient enterprises, contributing to employment generation and the availability of affordable inputs at village level.

iFAME, the Incubation Facility for Microbial Encapsulation, supports pilot-scale production of encapsulated microbial bioagents.

Alongside these, the unit's product portal features more than 150 agri-based products, including whole spices and blends, bio-fertilizers, planting materials and wellness items developed by ICAR institutes and incubated startups.

Events and ecosystem

The Agribusiness Incubation Unit runs entrepreneurship development and awareness programmes alongside incubation. It organised a two-day entrepreneurship development programme on value addition in fruits and vegetables in late October 2024, with 21 participants, and another on value addition in mushrooms. In December 2024 it ran an entrepreneurship awareness session with the MSME DFO, Thrissur. It also held an orientation programme for student startups, with more than 40 student participants. In February 2025 it hosted RISE UP 2.0, a startup conclave that also ran the NavUdyam Idea Hackathon, bringing together entrepreneurs, students and industry stakeholders to foster collaboration in the agriculture and spice sectors. The accompanying Udayam 2.0 Agri Expo showcased more than 70 entrepreneurs, farm tools, bio-inputs and innovative spice products.

Scale

IISR and its incubator do not publish a single current count of startups supported. What can be checked are the statements above: event participation, the rural micronutrient enterprises the training unit has incubated, and the products featured on its portal. These are the institute's own published statements rather than audited totals.

Who runs it

In the institute's own account, organised spice research in India began with the All India Coordinated Spices and Cashew Improvement Project, launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1971 at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute in Kasaragod. The same history records NRCS being elevated to the status of the Indian Institute of Spices Research in 1995. The incubation guidelines instead describe the institute as established in 1975, so the two accounts of its founding do not agree. ITM-ABI is run as a unit of the institute under ICAR's National Agricultural Innovation Fund scheme, with membership applications decided by the Advisory Board or the ITM-ABI committee.

Locations

The Agribusiness Incubation Unit gives its address as ICAR – Indian Institute of Spices Research, Marikunnu P.O., Kozhikode, Kerala. The incubation guidelines describe the campus as located at Chelavoor, Kozhikode. Both place the institute in Kozhikode, Kerala.