DST NIDHI — National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations: India’s full-spectrum government startup support system. Launched by NSTEDB (National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board) under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Programs: NIDHI-PRAYAS (₹10 lakh prototype grant, zero equity), NIDHI-EIR (up to ₹30,000/month for 18 months, salary replacement for aspiring founders), NIDHI-SSS (seed funding up to ₹20 lakh for TBI-incubated startups), NIDHI-TBI and iTBI (incubator infrastructure support), NIDHI-Accelerator (growth stage), NIDHI-CoE (Centres of Excellence for global-readiness). PMU for PRAYAS: SINE, IIT Bombay. 75+ startups highlighted under NIDHI-PRAYAS including SWITCH UAV and Atomberg Energy-Efficient Fans. PRAYAS priority sectors: Manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, cleantech, energy, water, IoT. EIR duration: up to 18 months. No concurrent fellowship or employment allowed. Note for founders: NewGen IEDC (the predecessor program) has been discontinued — NIDHI is the active replacement framework. Here’s the complete picture.
There’s Something Important to Clarify First
If you’ve been told about NewGen IEDC — the Department of Science and Technology’s program for campus-based entrepreneurship development — here’s what you need to know: that program has been discontinued. The NIDHI portal maintained by DST now explicitly states that NewGen IEDC “has ended and is no longer operational.”
That’s not bad news for founders. It’s actually the starting point for a much more useful story.
NewGen IEDC was one piece of DST’s thinking about how to support innovation and entrepreneurship in India’s academic institutions. What replaced it is significantly more comprehensive — a full ladder of programs, collectively called NIDHI, that supports a founder from the earliest spark of an idea all the way through to a scaled, investment-ready company. Multiple programs, each designed for a specific stage, each offering something concrete and non-dilutive.
Most early-stage founders, students, and researchers don’t know this ladder exists. That gap is worth closing. Because if you’re building something based in technology — hardware, manufacturing, agritech, healthtech, cleantech, IoT — and you’re pre-revenue or pre-prototype, there are government programs specifically designed for your moment right now, and they’re actively accepting applications.
What NIDHI Is — The Full Framework
NIDHI stands for National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations. It was designed by DST’s NSTEDB — the same body that ran the original entrepreneurship development programs for decades — as a comprehensive, end-to-end system that takes a technologist from idea to a fundable, scaling company.
The key design insight behind NIDHI is that the barriers facing founders change at different stages of their journey. An innovator with an idea needs something different from an incubatee with a prototype, who needs something different from a startup preparing for a seed round, who needs something different from a growth-stage company trying to go global. NIDHI has a distinct program for each of those moments, with funding and support structures calibrated for the stage.
Here’s the full ladder:
NIDHI-PRAYAS: Idea to prototype. Up to ₹10 lakh. Zero equity. For individual innovators, students, and early-stage founders building physical products with commercialization potential.
NIDHI-EIR: Entrepreneur in Residence. Up to ₹30,000 per month, for up to 18 months. A salary replacement so aspiring founders can quit their jobs or delay joining one to pursue their startup full-time.
NIDHI-TBI and iTBI: Technology Business Incubators. DST funds incubators at academic and research institutions. These are the physical homes where PRAYAS grantees and EIR recipients work, and where SSS seed funding flows.
NIDHI-SSS: Seed Support System. Up to ₹20 lakh in early-stage investment for startups already incubated at a NIDHI-TBI. This is post-prototype, post-validation capital to help a company grow to the point where private investors will engage.
NIDHI-Accelerator: Fast-track intensive support for startups that are ready to scale. Focused on companies preparing for larger rounds of funding.
NIDHI-CoE: Centres of Excellence. World-class lab and infrastructure access for startups that need global-grade testing, validation, and R&D facilities to compete internationally.
The programs are designed to connect. A founder who enters at PRAYAS, builds a prototype, and then joins a TBI can apply for EIR support to stay committed full-time, access SSS seed funding once their product is validated, and eventually move into the Accelerator and CoE programs. The entire journey, from idea to investment-ready company, has structured government support at every step.
NIDHI-PRAYAS: The Most Accessible Entry Point
For most early-stage founders reading this, PRAYAS is the most immediately relevant program. Let’s go deeper on exactly what it is, who it’s for, and what you need to know before applying.
NIDHI-PRAYAS — Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring technology entrepreneurs — gives up to ₹10 lakh in prototype development funding to individual innovators or small teams. The money is a grant, not an equity investment. You own your idea, your IP, and your company. There is no repayment unless you voluntarily return the funds.
The money is deployed through a network of PRAYAS Centres — incubators that have been selected by DST and are managed by SINE, IIT Bombay, the Program Management Unit for PRAYAS. The PRAYAS Centre at each TBI handles applications, runs the selection process, provides Fab Lab infrastructure (3D printing, laser cutting, prototyping equipment), mentorship from domain experts, and business guidance. You apply to a PRAYAS Centre, not to DST directly.
The priority sectors for PRAYAS are manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, cleantech, energy, water, and IoT. These are not exclusive — ideas in other areas can be considered on merit — but if your work sits in one of these categories, your application has a clear, explicitly supported pathway.
There is one sector that PRAYAS explicitly does not cover, and it catches a lot of founders off guard: pure software products. If you’re building an app, an e-commerce platform, or a pure SaaS product with no hardware component, PRAYAS is not the right program. The scheme is specifically designed for physical product development — prototypes that result in tangible products. Software can be a component of a hardware product (an IoT device, a medtech diagnostic, a manufacturing tool) but cannot be the entire project. This is a meaningful filter. If your product involves any hardware, sensors, physical systems, or manufactured goods, PRAYAS is designed for you. If it doesn’t, look at the other NIDHI programs or other DST schemes.
Who Can Apply for PRAYAS — The Eligibility Details
The eligibility requirements are broader than most founders assume, which is itself an important thing to know.
You must be an Indian citizen, at least 18 years old, and have completed at least an undergraduate degree — your basic degree should be in science or engineering. You do not need to be currently enrolled as a student. Graduates, researchers, and aspiring entrepreneurs who have already left their institutions can all apply. The program is specifically described as open to “students, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups.”
If your startup is already incorporated, you are still eligible — as long as the company is less than 7 years old from the date of incorporation and has had an annual turnover not exceeding ₹25 lakh in any financial year since inception. PRAYAS is for companies that are genuinely early, not growth-stage businesses trying to use a scheme meant for pre-product innovators.
If you are currently studying or employed at an institution, you need a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from that institution before you apply. This is the same requirement that exists under BIRAC’s BIG scheme and for most government innovation grants. The NOC confirms that your institution permits you to pursue the work and will not claim rights over any IP created during the project. Start this process early — institutional NOC processes are often slower than the application deadlines.
One more practical point: PRAYAS support can only be availed once. If you’ve previously received a PRAYAS grant, you’re not eligible to apply again. The program is designed to ignite first-time innovators, not to provide repeat support.
NIDHI-EIR: The Program That Removes the Salary Risk of Starting Up
This is the NIDHI program that gets the least attention and deserves the most.
NIDHI-EIR — Entrepreneur in Residence — exists because one of the biggest practical barriers to early-stage startup creation is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of income during the critical period when a founder is validating their idea before they can raise any external funding. If you’re a recent graduate trying to build something, the question of how you pay rent while doing early-stage work is not trivial. If you’re employed and want to quit to build a startup, the question of how long you can survive without a salary before the idea generates any revenue is a genuine risk that causes many founders to give up or delay indefinitely.
NIDHI-EIR directly addresses this. The program provides a monthly stipend of between ₹10,000 and ₹30,000 — for up to 18 months — to aspiring founders who are working on a technology business idea. The EIR recipient gets this monthly support while being registered at a participating TBI, using its infrastructure and mentorship, and working full-time on their startup. The moment the EIR recipient raises external funding, the stipend stops — the idea being that once you’ve raised money, you no longer need the government subsidy.
The EIR is explicitly designed for technology-based ideas with significant uncertainty — the kinds of bets that have large potential but that investors won’t fund until the founder has spent meaningful time de-risking them. The program evaluation framework actually deprioritises business ideas with “very short journey (less than 6 months) to commercialization” — those companies are already commercial enough to find other support. EIR is for the longer, harder bets where a founder needs protected time to work before the world will acknowledge the opportunity.
The program cannot be combined with any other fellowship, stipend, or employment. You must commit full-time. But for a recent graduate or a professional ready to make the leap, 18 months of government-backed financial support to test a technology idea without the pressure of immediate revenue is a real and meaningful unlock.
Some PRAYAS Centres also run EIR programs. IIIT Hyderabad’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, for example, runs both — and notes a specific preference for EIR applicants working on AI, computer vision, and robotics-powered technology. Each TBI implements the EIR within the broad framework, so the specific focus areas and selection criteria vary by centre.
The TBIs: Where Everything Happens
Both PRAYAS and EIR are implemented through Technology Business Incubators — TBIs. Understanding how TBIs work is essential because your application to PRAYAS or EIR goes to a specific TBI, not to DST directly.
India has a large network of DST-supported TBIs embedded in universities and research institutions across the country. Some of the most active NIDHI-implementing TBIs include SINE at IIT Bombay (which is also the PRAYAS Program Management Unit), CIE at IIIT Hyderabad, KIIT-TBI in Bhubaneswar, IIT Guwahati’s incubation centre, and IKP Knowledge Park in Hyderabad. Each of these centres runs periodic calls for PRAYAS and EIR applications, runs their own selection process, and provides the physical infrastructure — Fab Labs, co-working spaces, prototyping equipment — that grantees use.
Choosing the right TBI matters. A TBI with a strong track record in your sector, with domain mentors who understand your problem, and with good infrastructure for your specific type of prototype work will give you a much better 12–18 months than a TBI that processes your grant but isn’t deeply engaged in your work. Before you apply, research the TBIs near you, review who their current cohort includes, look at what kinds of companies have come through their program, and reach out before the application window opens. The selection process is competitive — coming in with a prior relationship with the TBI team, rather than as a cold application, matters.
NIDHI-SSS: What Comes After the Prototype
The Seed Support System is the bridge between a validated prototype and investment-readiness. NIDHI-SSS provides early-stage investment of up to ₹20 lakh to startups that are already incubated at a NIDHI-TBI and have moved past the prototype stage.
The SSS is not a grant — it is an investment, typically structured as a convertible note or a revenue-share arrangement. The details vary by TBI, since the scheme is implemented locally. What’s consistent is the intent: to provide the first institutional investment signal for a company that has validated its product but hasn’t yet reached the stage where private angels or VCs will engage.
The SSS is what the government calls “patient capital” — funding that doesn’t demand quick returns and doesn’t pressure a startup to scale before it’s ready. For a hardware company that needs another 12 months of field testing before it can close a commercial contract, the SSS provides the bridge without the equity dilution pressure that comes from taking private funding too early at a compressed valuation.
What NIDHI Has Actually Produced
The NIDHI programs are not just well-designed on paper. The portfolio of companies that have come through the ecosystem demonstrates what structured, stage-by-stage government support can produce.
SWITCH UAV — a company building reliable last-mile surveillance solutions — is highlighted among NIDHI PRAYAS’s most significant portfolio companies. Atomberg, which makes energy-efficient fans using a patented small motor design, also came through the NIDHI ecosystem early in its journey. Atomberg has since raised over $100 million in private funding and is one of India’s most successful consumer hardware companies.
These aren’t outliers. The NIDHI PRAYAS website highlights 75 promising startups across its program history — companies spanning robotics, agritech, healthtech, clean energy, and manufacturing. Each of them received early non-dilutive support that gave them the time and infrastructure to validate their idea before approaching investors. The pattern repeats: government support at the prototype stage leads to investor-ready products, which leads to private capital at better valuations, which leads to scale.
The Bottom Line
NIDHI — India’s active government startup support ecosystem, run by NSTEDB under DST. The full ladder, from idea to global scale.
NIDHI-PRAYAS: Up to ₹10 lakh, zero equity. For physical product prototypes in manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, cleantech, energy, water, IoT. Open to students, graduates, researchers, and early startups. Apply through a PRAYAS Centre near you. Can only be availed once.
NIDHI-EIR: Up to ₹30,000/month, for up to 18 months. For aspiring founders who want to work full-time on a technology business idea without the financial pressure of having no income. Cannot be concurrent with employment or other fellowships. Stops the moment you raise external funding.
NIDHI-SSS: Up to ₹20 lakh in early-stage investment for TBI-incubated startups with a validated product. The bridge from prototype to investment-readiness.
NIDHI-TBI and iTBI: The physical infrastructure where all of the above happens. Fab Labs, co-working, mentorship, domain expert access.
Note: NewGen IEDC, the predecessor program mentioned in many older guides, has been discontinued. NIDHI is the active framework that replaced it and covers significantly more ground.
If you’re building something in technology that involves a physical product, and you’re at the earliest stage of that journey — before a prototype, before a team, possibly still in college or just out of it — there is a structured, well-funded, non-dilutive ladder designed specifically for you. Most founders don’t know it exists. Now you do.