Nehru Group of Institutions Technology Business Incubator (NGI TBI)

Pick the right route in

• Still shaping the idea: apply for pre-incubation. It is built around refining a concept, testing a prototype and doing market research, and expects no product yet.
• Building towards a sellable product: apply for incubation. This is where the labs, the co-working space and the introductions to government funding schemes sit.
• Not ready to apply: come to The Startup Crew on a Thursday first. It is open to anyone and costs you nothing but an evening, and it is the cheapest way to see whether the place fits you.
• You only need IP help: you do not have to be incubated to use the IPR cell. Patent facilitators hold a clinic on the first Wednesday of each month.

How applications work

• There are two separate application forms, one per track, both linked from the Connect page. Choose the one that matches your stage rather than applying to both.
• Applications are rolling. There is no published deadline or intake window, so an application joins the next review rather than a cohort.
• You will need a Google account to open either form.
• If you would rather talk first, the incubation manager and the outreach manager each publish a direct email and phone number on the Connect page.

How selection works

• An expert panel reviews ideas on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. Time your application so it lands before a panel date rather than just after one.
• Be ready to present, not just to submit. The panel is validating the idea, so prepare the problem, who has it, and what you have built or tested so far.

What to prepare

• A clear statement of the problem and who pays to have it solved.
• Evidence of any validation you have done, however small — user conversations, a pilot, a working prototype.
• Which of the incubator's labs you would actually use. NGI TBI's stated focus is healthcare and the Internet of Things, and it also runs design and development and computation labs, so a proposal that uses one of those is an easier fit than one that does not.
• Your incorporation status, if you have one. Several of the companies it has graduated are registered private limited companies and LLPs.

Questions worth asking before you commit

NGI TBI does not publish its terms, so ask the team directly and get the answers in writing:

• How long does incubation run, and what are the review points?
• Is there a fee for a desk or for incubation, and what does a co-working membership include?
• Does the incubator take equity in incubated startups?
• Which government funding schemes can it actually route you to, and is it an approved incubator for them? Its site explains several national and state schemes without stating which ones it is empanelled for.
• Will you be based at Coimbatore or Palakkad, and what is available at each?

Careers and events

NGI TBI does not publish a careers page. Events, including The Startup Crew sessions and the IDEA Program competitions, are listed on the site's events page.

NGI TBI is the Nehru Group of Institutions Technology Business Incubator, a technology business incubator that works with startups in healthcare and the Internet of Things. It was set up in 2018 as a registered society under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Act, 1955, and is catalysed and supported by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Its registered office sits on the Jawaharlal College of Engineering and Technology campus at Lakkidi, Mangalam, Ottapalam in Palakkad district, Kerala, and its operating centre is the Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Block at Nehru Gardens, Thirumalayampalayam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The incubator is a separate legal body, not a department of any one college in the Nehru Group. That matters if you are looking for a way in: its applications are open to founders who have no connection to the group's institutions, and its own pages say it is inviting startups from across India to apply.

How programmes work

There are two ways in. Pre-incubation is for people still shaping an idea, and covers workspace access, market research and prototype testing tools, workshops on ideation and business modelling, and mentoring to turn a concept into a working prototype. Incubation is the next step, for teams building towards a product they can sell, and adds infrastructure, expert mentors and routing to government funding schemes. Both run on rolling applications with no published window, and both are applied for through an online application form linked from the Connect page.

Selection is handled by a panel. NGI TBI says a panel of experts validates ideas on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, so an application joins the next review rather than waiting for a cohort to open.

Alongside the two tracks, NGI TBI runs The Startup Crew, a weekly Thursday forum it describes as open to all, where founders, would-be founders and other interested people hear from industry experts and entrepreneurs and meet each other. It is a way to see the place before you commit to applying.

A note of caution on the programme pages themselves: the pre-incubation and incubation pages are largely general explanations of what business incubation is, rather than statements of NGI TBI's own terms. Duration, cost and whether the incubator takes equity are not published anywhere on its site. Ask before you sign anything.

Who can apply

Founders and teams from anywhere in India, not only students of the Nehru Group's colleges. The portfolio bears that out: the graduated companies listed are registered private limited companies, LLPs and one-person companies working in logistics, robotics, education technology, food processing, electric vehicles and healthcare, which is a wider spread than a campus-only intake would produce.

What the site does not state is any incorporation requirement, any age limit on the company, or any geography gate. Its page about the national Startup India Seed Fund Scheme lists that scheme's own criteria, which are a different thing from NGI TBI's intake, so do not read them as the incubator's rules. NGI TBI does not say on any of its pages that it is an approved seed fund incubator, so if seed fund money is what you are after, check that with the team directly before applying.

Facilities

The Coimbatore centre has a co-working space with fingerprint access and flexible monthly memberships, a board room with video conferencing and whiteboards, and MIND HUB, an air-conditioned seminar hall with built-in audio-visual equipment used for workshops and events. On the technical side there are labs for healthcare and IoT work, a design and development lab for building product prototypes, and a computation lab offering computing tools, AI and machine learning frameworks and high-performance computing for teams doing simulation or algorithm work.

The Nehru Group also runs PK Das IT Park, offices for startups and product companies with round-the-clock power and water, high-speed internet, board rooms and conference halls, a cafeteria and accommodation.

Support services

An IPR cell sponsored by the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology has been running since August 2023. It helps with drafting, filing and processing patents, with copyrights and trademarks, and with technology transfer and commercialisation, and it runs awareness sessions. Patent facilitators hold a clinic at NGI TBI on the first Wednesday of each month and a chartered accountant on the second Wednesday, which covers the two things early teams most often get stuck on.

Scale

NGI TBI names twenty-four graduated companies on its startups page. Its home page counters claim larger totals across pre-incubation, incubation, innovators, members and mentors, but those figures are self-reported, carry no date, and do not render at all without JavaScript, so treat the named list as the firm number and the counters as the incubator's own claim.

Who runs it

Dr P. Krishnakumar is President of NGI TBI and CEO and Secretary of the Nehru Group of Institutions. Dr B. Vaikundaselvan is Executive Director, Dr K. Leo Dev Wins is TBI Coordinator and Subash V V is Incubation Manager. Adv. Dr P. Krishnadas is Chairman and Managing Trustee of the Nehru Group. The advisory group includes S. B. Sareen, formerly Director of Government Projects at EDII Ahmedabad, Ramanan Ramanathan, the first Mission Director of the Atal Innovation Mission and a former Additional Secretary at NITI Aayog, Dr R. Srinivasan, former Member Secretary of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology, and A. V. Gnanasambandam, Managing Director and CEO of ABIS-TBI at TNAU in Coimbatore.

Locations and how to apply

Coimbatore is the operating centre and the address most founders will use; Palakkad in Kerala holds the registered office. For how to apply, use the Apply Now links on the Connect page, one for pre-incubation and one for incubation, or write to the incubation manager. Mentors who want to work with NGI TBI register through a separate form on the same page. Upcoming sessions and events are listed on the site's events page.