DST NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence

NIDHI-EIR is a fellowship rather than a company grant: it supports a person while they work out whether a technology business idea stands up. FTBI's page shows a last date of 21 November 2023 with round 4 results published, while its newer site mentions a round 5 with no date — so check with FTBI before assuming it is open.

What you get

• A fellowship, alongside incubation, mentoring and the possibility of further funding from FTBI

Who can apply

• Indian citizens with either four years of full-time undergraduate or postgraduate education, or a three-year degree or diploma plus two years of full-time work after it — the base qualification must be in science or engineering
• First-generation innovative entrepreneurs with no parallel source of income, working on the idea full time
• You cannot hold another salary or fellowship at the same time
• You cannot be the promoter or hold more than 10% of another company when you apply
• You must register for FTBI's pre-incubation or incubation programme for the whole fellowship period

Preference goes to ideas with large technology uncertainty or long gestation, ideas built on IP from publicly funded research, and ideas with real social impact. Ideas with little technology content, or less than six months from market, are discouraged.

How selection works: you submit a business plan in the prescribed format plus a presentation including an investment proposal, and selection is held at FTBI, NIT Rourkela.

How to apply: through the application link on FTBI's NIDHI-EIR page, using the published proforma.