Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments (IDEMI), Mumbai

Is this the right door

• IDEMI is a technology centre of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, working for the instrument industry and for MSMEs. It is not a startup incubator with a founder intake.
• The doors here are skill-training schemes for individuals, and design, tooling, prototyping, calibration and testing services for organisations.
• Nothing on its pages describes grant funding, an accelerator cohort or equity investment for startups.
• Its only incubation statement is for the Bengaluru extension centre, which offers two years of incubation alongside prototyping and low-volume production support.

Choosing the right training scheme

• Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme: for trainees aged 18 and above with 10+2, ITI, diploma or a degree in any discipline. Training is free for women, and registration is free of cost, with a fee only for candidates who are selected.
• DAY-NULM: Maharashtra residents aged 18 to 35 who are among the poorest beneficiaries in economic, social and caste terms.
• MeitY project courses: Maharashtra residents aged 18 and above. Training is free for SC and ST candidates and for women.
• NBCFDC-sponsored training: candidates in the scheme's named categories, including OBC families below its income ceiling, De-Notified, Semi-Nomadic and Nomadic Tribes, Economically Backward Classes, senior citizens, transgender persons and the other groups listed on the scheme page.
• National SC-ST Hub training: SC and ST candidates who are Maharashtra residents, aged 18 and above.
• DDUGKY: rural Maharashtra residents aged 18 to 35 whose names are on the poverty-line list. Training, accommodation and meals are free of charge.
• Kiman Kaushalya training: Maharashtra residents aged 18 and above.
• Mahila Balkalyan Yojana: women trainees aged 18 and above in Mumbai, under the BMC scheme.

How applications work

• Each scheme has its own route. Some take registration through a form linked on the scheme page; others ask you to contact the scheme coordinator listed there.
• The DAY-NULM page lists the documents it asks for: a leaving certificate, marksheets, caste certificate, Aadhaar and a copy of the bank passbook.
• Registration for the Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme is free of cost. A fee applies only to candidates who are selected.
• For design, tool room, prototyping, calibration or testing work, write to the department that matches the work rather than to the training team.

How selection works

• The Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme selects on the percentage of marks in the eligibility qualification, or by interview, as its scheme information sheet puts it.
• For the other schemes, ask the coordinator when the next batch starts and what it selects on.

Reaching the centre

• General enquiries: info@idemi.org
• Training schemes: training@idemi.org
• Tool room, 3D printing and rapid prototyping: toolroom@idemi.org
• Design and development: designanddevelopment@idemi.org
• Bengaluru extension centre: ecbengaluru@idemi.org
• The Principal Director's office is listed on the contact page as pd@idemi.org.

IDEMI, the Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments, is a technology centre of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Mumbai. A Government of India Society established it in 1969 as a service to the instrument industry, and it works from Sion, Chunabhatti, with a sub-centre at Sakinaka and an extension centre in Bengaluru. Its work covers design, tooling, rapid prototyping, calibration, testing and technical training for MSMEs and other organisations in electrical, electronics and process-control instrumentation.

How programmes work

Most of what IDEMI runs is government training for individuals rather than support for companies. At its Mumbai centre it runs skill-training schemes, each with its own eligibility rule and its own registration route: an Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme, DAY-NULM training for urban poor households in Maharashtra, courses under a MeitY project, NBCFDC-sponsored training, National SC-ST Hub training, residential DDUGKY training, Kiman Kaushalya training, and women's training under the BMC's Mahila Balkalyan Yojana. Most scheme pages state that training is free for the categories they serve, and the DDUGKY scheme also provides free accommodation and meals. The delivery described across the scheme pages is the same: experienced trainers, modern machinery and software, plenty of demonstrations and practice, and training meant to build entrepreneurial quality.

MSMEs and instrument makers come to the centre for services rather than for a cohort. The published service lines include product design and development, technical consultancy in instrumentation, tool room work, rapid prototyping in plastic, 3D printing, calibration and testing.

The one place IDEMI speaks in incubation terms is its Bengaluru extension centre, which supports entrepreneurs and MSMEs from the early stages of product concept through prototyping and low-volume production, and offers incubation for a period of two years. IDEMI's pages give different accounts of incubation in Mumbai. A document linked from its homepage describes a product developed by an incubatee under an IDEMI Incubation Centre, while the live site carries no incubation programme, application form or intake for Mumbai. A founder looking for a Mumbai incubation seat will not find an application route here.

Who can apply

The training schemes are for individuals, and each draws from a different pool. Several share a minimum age of 18 and a school, ITI, diploma or degree qualification, and they then differ in who they draw from. Some are open only to Maharashtra residents. DAY-NULM is for Maharashtra residents aged 18 to 35 who are among the poorest beneficiaries in economic, social and caste terms. The NBCFDC scheme is for people in named categories, among them Other Backward Classes with a family income below the scheme's ceiling, De-Notified, Semi-Nomadic and Nomadic Tribes, Economically Backward Classes, senior citizens and transgender persons. DDUGKY is for rural Maharashtra youth whose names are on the poverty-line list. Several schemes state free training only for the categories they serve, such as women, or SC and ST candidates.

Organisations in the instrument industry can approach the centre for design, prototyping, calibration and testing work. Its pages describe support for MSMEs and for the instrument industry; they do not describe startup funding, equity support or a founder intake.

Facilities

A tool room carries CNC milling, CNC lathe, EDM spark erosion, wire cut EDM, gear hobbing, OPG grinding, jig boring and conventional machines. Rapid prototyping in plastic is offered on FDM equipment, and 3D printing runs on an EOS FORMIGA P 110 Velocis. The rapid-prototyping pages give different accounts of selective laser sintering: one marks it as upcoming, while the FORMIGA page lists 3D printing in selective laser sintering as an existing service.

Calibration and testing are the other half of the work. Both laboratories hold NABL accreditation, the calibration one under certificate CC-2287 and the testing one under TC-5538.

Scale

In 2022-23 the institute's calibration work for MSMEs and other organisations covered 406 pressure and vacuum devices, 272 temperature measuring instruments and 43 internal reference standards. Those are the institute's own figures for that year. The Bengaluru extension centre was established in 2018 under the Hub and Spoke model of the Ministry of MSME.

Who runs it

IDEMI is a Government of India Society established in 1969. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research recognises the institute as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. NABL and DST have also recognised it as a Regional Training Center for residential courses on laboratory quality systems, internal audit for laboratories and laboratory assessor training. The Principal Director's office and a general inbox are both listed on its contact page, and it advertises current vacancies on a careers page.

Locations

The Mumbai centre is at Swatantryaveer Tatya Tope Marg, off the Eastern Express Highway, opposite the Everard Nagar bus stop, Sion, Chunabhatti, Mumbai 400022. A sub-centre works at Sag Baug, Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai 400072. The extension centre works from the MSME Development Institute on West of Chord Road, Rajajinagar Industrial Estate, Bengaluru 560010.