IDFC FIRST Bank

Check the status of each route first

• The IGNITE pages say applications for FY 2026-27 are closed for the incubation and accelerator tracks.
• The grant call's FITT route closes on 10 November 2026.

Match your sector to the track

• Green manufacturing, circular economy, waste recycling, upcycling and cleantech suit the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park track.
• Climate tech, carbon reduction and removal, AI and ML healthcare diagnostics, and medical devices suit the PIEDS accelerator at BITS Pilani.
• GreenTech and sustainability suit the SINE track.

Meet the basic requirements

• Grant applicants must be registered with DPIIT.
• Read the full criteria on the call page before you apply.

Working capital and the founder programme

• Startup Working Capital is for pre-profit startups and is offered without physical collateral.
• The Founder Success Program charges no fees and takes no mentorship equity.

IDFC FIRST Bank is an Indian bank that supports startups through its CSR programme and its startup banking range. The CSR programme's IGNITE initiative runs incubation, accelerator and grant tracks for climate, green-manufacturing and clean-tech startups, each with a partner institution. The bank was founded on 18 December 2018 by the merger of Erstwhile IDFC Bank and Erstwhile Capital First.

The IGNITE programme

IGNITE is described as a social innovation programme. Its incubation track with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is for green manufacturing, circular economy, waste recycling and upcycling, and cleantech startups. Its accelerator track with BITS Pilani, through PIEDS, is for climate tech, carbon reduction and removal, AI and ML healthcare diagnostics, and medical devices and assistive technologies. A second incubation track runs with SINE at IIT Bombay for GreenTech and sustainability startups.

The IGNITE page says applications for FY 2026-27 are closed for these tracks. The bank's CSR grant call, however, names SINE, IIT Mumbai as one of its routes. The two pages do not agree on whether the SINE route is open, and the bank's pages give no separate SINE deadline.

CSR grants

The grant route runs with FITT at IIT Delhi and SINE at IIT Mumbai. It gives startups CSR grants together with structured mentorship, technical guidance, business support and access to the research ecosystems of both institutions. The call page gives 10 November 2026 as the last date to apply to the FITT route.

Startup banking

The bank's startup banking range includes Startup Working Capital, which is lending for pre-profit startups offered without physical collateral. Its Founder Success Program gives startups access to mentors, investors and venture capitalists, and the bank describes it as free, with no fees and no mentorship equity required.

Who can apply

Each incubation and accelerator track is aimed at startups in its stated themes. Grant applicants must be registered with DPIIT. The call page lists further criteria that this description does not repeat, so check them before applying.

Track record

The bank reports 50 entrepreneurs supported under IGNITE, and 207 entrepreneurs supported across its entrepreneurship and livelihood programmes. Its pages give no date for either figure.

How to apply

For the IGNITE incubation and accelerator tracks, applications for FY 2026-27 are closed. For the grant route, the FITT application closes on 10 November 2026. For Startup Working Capital, the bank's page does not say how to apply.