Upcoming eChai events in Ludhiana
eChai's free, open founder meetups across the city. RSVP and walk in.
A look back at recent eChai gatherings in Ludhiana, newest first.
Startups building in Ludhiana
Find a company or founder, or filter by what they build.
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Paritosh Kumar Garg (founder & MD); Ashish Garg
Incorporated 1979; India's 4th-largest engineering-led maker of complex, safety-critical heavy forged and precision-machined components (crankshafts, transmission parts) for CVs, tractors and off-highway. IP...
Om Prakash Munjal (founder); Pankaj Munjal (Chairman)
Founded 1956 by OP Munjal (part of the four Munjal brothers who moved from Kamalia to Ludhiana). The world's largest integrated bicycle manufacturer by volume — recognised by Guinness in 1986 — producing on ...
Jawahar Lal Oswal (Chairman, Nahar/Oswal group)
Brand launched 1984 by the Nahar/Oswal group; demerged into Monte Carlo Fashions Ltd (FY2011-12) and IPO'd, listed on BSE/NSE 2015. India's leading branded woollen/knitwear player with a dominant share of th...
Oswal group
Listed textile arms of the Nahar/Oswal group (roots in the 1949 Oswal Woollen Mills), among India's larger cotton-yarn spinners and integrated textile makers. Together with Monte Carlo and Cotton County, the...
Vidya Sagar Oswal (founder, 1949)
Flagship of the Nahar Group, founded 1949 — the origin of Ludhiana's modern hosiery & woollen industry. Set up a wool-combing unit in 1972 to enter branded knitwear, which later produced Monte Carlo. Group s...
J.C. Avasthi (founder); Raj Avasthi & Munish Avasthi
Established 1977 under J.C. Avasthi; a vertically integrated yarn, fabric and apparel manufacturer with seven facilities across Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Announced a ~Rs 1,000 cr greenfield spinning expan...
Rajinder Gupta (founder-promoter)
Founded 1990 by first-generation entrepreneur Rajinder Gupta; a Ludhiana-HQ'd global home-textiles (towels, bedsheets), yarn, paper and chemicals major, Rs 7,000 cr+ income. World's largest terry-towel manuf...
Rattan Chand Oswal (founder); S.P. Oswal (Chairman)
Founded 1965 (as Vardhman Spinning & General Mills); India's largest vertically integrated textile producer — yarn, fabric, sewing thread, acrylic fibre and steel. ~27,000 employees, $1B+ turnover, producing...
Rohan Kashyap (founder); Ojasvee Kashyap & Janvi Sikaria
D2C streetwear brand founded 2019 (grew from a viral Instagram page); bold-graphic hoodies and streetwear for Gen Z. Raised ~Rs 2 cr on Shark Tank India from Kunal Bahl, Anupam Mittal and Aman Gupta. Revenue...
Kailash Chander Kalra (founder); Sanjeev & Deepak Kalra
Started 1958 with two manual nut machines; now India's largest industrial-fasteners manufacturer and the worldwide owner of the iconic Unbrako high-tensile fastener brand. Global export presence built from 1...
Rahul Arora (founder & CEO); Pushpender S. Rautela, Rahool Benji
Founded 2020; a cloud-based technical-interview / on-demand interviewer SaaS platform for tech hiring, appeared on Shark Tank India. ~$300K raised across seed/angel rounds (2am VC, QED, Titan Capital). Ludhi...
Founded 2018; develops AI-based IoT devices/solutions. A small deep-tech/hardware startup in Ludhiana, aligned with the city's manufacturing base and a rare local IoT play.
Simar Singh, Harshdeep Singh, Danish Chawla
Online marketplace for authenticated second-hand / resale sneakers, with early seed funding (~$160K). A small e-commerce startup representing Ludhiana's nascent consumer-internet layer. ~9 employees.
Muneet Arora & Balkirat Singh (Co-founders)
Founded 2022; an internet-first premium tea brand offering ethically sourced blends, raising small seed rounds (~$120K cumulative) across 2023-24. One of Ludhiana's genuine new-economy D2C startups, though s...
Akhil Malhotra (founder)
Early-stage plastic-recycling / cleantech venture — manufacturer and supplier of recycled plastic and recycling-plant solutions. Raised ~$0.75M (early stage). Among the highest-funded of Ludhiana's genuinely...
Fintech (founded ~2014) offering lending and financial services aimed at rural and semi-urban customers in the Punjab belt. An early example of a Ludhiana-based fintech serving the region's agrarian/MSME bor...
Onkar Singh Pahwa (Chairman); Rishi & Mandeep Pahwa
Established 1951, the flagship of the Avon Group and one of India's largest bicycle and e-bike makers alongside Hero and Atlas. Family-run (Pahwa family) and vertically integrated — cycles, e-cycles, fitness...
Nahar Industrial Enterprises (Oswal group)
Cotton-focused apparel brand (a subsidiary of the Nahar/Oswal group), built around breathable, natural cotton casualwear. A second branded-apparel arm of the Nahar textile empire beyond Monte Carlo, run out ...
Komal Kumar Jain & Kuntal Raj Jain
Founded 1966; a pioneer of India's T-shirt culture and one of the country's best-known homegrown knitwear/casualwear brands (T-shirts, sweaters, jackets, footwear). A cornerstone Ludhiana apparel manufacture...
Umesh Munjal (founder); Amol & Ankur Munjal
Founded 1971, began with cold-forged components like bicycle freewheels and grew into precision forged and machined auto/tractor components. Another Munjal-lineage engineering firm in Ludhiana's dense forgin...
Hero Group (Munjal family)
Hero Group engineering company rooted in Ludhiana, historically a maker of bicycle and moped/two-wheeler components and complete vehicles (Hero Majestic moped). Part of the Munjal manufacturing complex that ...
Nirmal Kumar Jain (CEO)
Ludhiana-based garment maker (founded 1998) known for innerwear, thermals and sleepwear, increasingly positioned as an internet-first sleepwear brand for men and women. Represents Ludhiana hosiery firms movi...
Established 1991; Ludhiana-based apparel manufacturer and retailer of woollen and cotton garments for men and women — shirts, tees, knitwear, sweatshirts, jackets and jeggings. A mid-scale branded knitwear p...
Om Prakash Pahwa (founder); Sanjeev Pahwa (CMD)
Founded 1974 by Late OP Pahwa & Krishna Rani, starting with bicycle tubes and tyres. India's largest bicycle-tyre & tube producer and exporter (25%+ market share) and has expanded into automobile and truck t...
Brijmohan Lall Munjal (founder, Hero Group)
Set up 1960 (formerly Rockman Cycles) to make bicycle chains and hubs for Hero Cycles; now a major Hero Group automotive-component maker supplying alloy wheels, brakes and drive-chain systems to global OEMs....
Burger Bae
Gen-Z streetwear D2C brand that grew from a viral Instagram page into a fast-fashion label (hoodies, tees, track pants, winterwear for men & women). Founded 2019 by Rohan Kashyap (with Ojasvee Kashyap and Ja...
Freshleaf Teas
Internet-first premium tea brand (sparkling teas + traditional blends), founded 2022 by Balkirat Singh (CEO) and Muneet Arora (COO). Raised ~Rs 1 crore seed led by Inflection Point Ventures (2024). Ludhiana-...
Add Veda
Ayurvedic direct-to-consumer brand (supplements, medicines, cosmetics); has pursued patent protection for a glucose-intolerance treatment. Selected into IMPunjab's first cohort — the Punjab government's flag...
Rudra Ecovation (fmr Himachal Fibres)
Cleantech / circular-economy player recycling PET bottle waste into recycled polyester (rPET) fibre, yarn and fabric — capacity cited at 88M+ bottles/day-class processing, among India's top-10 plastic recycl...
Happy Forgings
Heavy forgings and machined components maker (crankshafts, drive-transmission and precision-machined parts for CVs, tractors, off-highway). IPO'd in Dec 2023; ~$29M+ in tracked funding history per Radar. **F...
Deepak Fasteners
Ludhiana's highest-"funded" company by Radar (~$74.3M disclosed) — a high-strength industrial fasteners (bolts/nuts) manufacturer with global operations. **FLAG:** founded 1958, a legacy industrial major, no...
Octave Apparels / Octave Clothing
Apparel retail brand (woollen & cotton garments, men & women) run by the Arora family — notably includes several women directors (Pallavika, Sanjana, Kritika Arora). Retails via 190+ EBOs/MBOs (Shoppers Stop...
Duke Fashion (Duke Fashions India)
One of Ludhiana's best-known homegrown apparel/knitwear brands (T-shirts, sweaters, winterwear, footwear), led by MD Kuntal Raj Jain; ~4 factories in Ludhiana producing ~70 lakh garments/year. **FLAG:** esta...
Neva Garments
Thermal-wear and innerwear/knitwear brand (~$5.4M tracked funding per Radar); a long-standing Ludhiana winterwear label. **FLAG:** established manufacturer/brand, listed as an ecosystem anchor in the knitwea...
Cotton County
Ludhiana casualwear/T-shirt retail brand (Sportking group lineage), ~$19.9M tracked per Radar, with a retail + business-services footprint. **FLAG:** established brand (roots ~2001), included to round out th...
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Who funds founders in Ludhiana
The funding ladder here, from a first angel cheque up to later-stage funds. Jump to a rung, or browse the list.
Angel networks 1
Syndicates that pool angel money into early rounds.
An LLP-based angel network committed to building an organized startup ecosystem in Punjab, technology-agnostic but focused on manufacturing and supply chain — a natural fit for Ludhiana's industrial DNA. Runs structured programs (AARAMBH...
Incubators & accelerators in Ludhiana
Incubators, accelerators, corporate programs and institutions. Jump to a type, or browse the list.
Incubators 4
Agri-business incubator set up at Punjab Agricultural University in 2019 under the central RKVY-RAFTAAR scheme. Supports farmers and agri-entrepreneurs with mentoring, infrastructure, technical/business guidance and access to government ...
Science & Technology Entrepreneurs' Park (STEP) hosted at GNDEC Ludhiana, one of the oldest engineering colleges in northern India. A Department of Science & Technology (DST)-funded incubator that trains, incubates and helps launch techn...
Technology Business Incubator established 2019 as a self-governing unit of CT University, Ludhiana. Offers co-working space, fully furnished offices for incubatees, conference room and a central laboratory. Provides mentoring and reports...
Campus incubation centre run under PCTE's Entrepreneurship Cell, recognised by Startup Punjab and the Institution's Innovation Council (Ministry of Education). Guides student and early-stage founders from idea to funding, and co-hosts ev...
Accelerators 1
Public-private catalyst organisation (founded 2020) partnering the Government of Punjab with private capital to build the state's innovation ecosystem. Runs a ~3-month accelerator, the PINE incubator network and an investor network conne...
Government & public 2
Punjab government's flagship startup programme offering seed grants (up to INR 3 lakh), interest subsidy on loans, lease-rental reimbursement and incubation support, plus the student-entrepreneurship scheme. Its 'Neuron' innovation hub w...
Single-window state investment-promotion and facilitation agency handling approvals, incentives and the startup collateral/incubator directory for Punjab. Chandigarh-based state body (flagged — not Ludhiana), but the key government inter...
Coworking spaces in Ludhiana
Where founders and early teams set up.
Flexible coworking provider in Ludhiana offering private cabins through enterprise-ready offices. Markets access to networking events, mentorship and investor connections alongside desk space — one of the more startup-oriented workspaces...
Ludhiana coworking brand offering private offices and shared workspace positioned as premium local coworking for professionals and small teams.
Serviced coworking and managed-office provider in Ludhiana catering to manufacturing units, textile and trading firms, engineering consultancies and small-scale industry, with flexible plans from startups to established enterprises.
International serviced-office chain with a Ludhiana centre near Feroze Gandhi Market, offering flexible desks and private offices for professionals in manufacturing, textiles and IT. Provides a recognised branded-workspace option in the ...
Startup communities & events in Ludhiana
The wider scene eChai is part of: communities, recurring meetups and annual conferences. Jump to a type, or browse the list.
Women founders in Ludhiana
Women building companies here, and the founder networks and funds backing them.
Mridula Jain (Shingora Textiles)
Ludhiana's flagship woman entrepreneur. Started Shingora in 1986 with eight handlooms; built it into one of India's leading luxury shawl/scarf/stole export brands (~Rs 100 cr turnover, ~1,000 employees, ~100...
Ruby Marjara (Waves / The Yellow Tree)
Textile-design postgraduate from a Ludhiana hosiery family (G.K. Marjara Hosiery Mills lineage). Launched her own women's knitwear label "Waves" in 2004, and in 2010 founded "The Yellow Tree," a premium bien...
FICCI FLO Ludhiana (community)
The Ludhiana chapter of FICCI FLO (one of ~20 pan-India FLO chapters), the women's wing of FICCI. Runs entrepreneurship, mentorship and visibility programs ("Dream Chasers & Women in Business"), skill develo...
WICCI Punjab (community, regional)
State/regional chamber for women entrepreneurs, businesswomen and professionals; WICCI's Northern Region spans Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, HP, UP, Uttarakhand, J&K and Ladakh. **HQ-FLAG:** WICCI Punjab is a...
Startup neighbourhoods in Ludhiana
The neighbourhoods where the city's founders cluster.
Ludhiana's largest planned industrial estate, laid out in phases on the south eastern side of the city off the GT Road and Chandigarh Road. Thousands of units here make auto and cycle components, hand and machine tools, forgings and agricultural equipment. CICU, the city's leading MSME chamber, keeps its complex in Phase V, which makes this the address most of Ludhiana's industry conferences run from.
6 companies
Strong in Manufacturing, D2C
The core of the hosiery and textile processing belt in north central Ludhiana, with spinning, knitting, dyeing and readymade garment units along Gill Road, Miller Ganj and Giaspura. Industry bodies put the knitwear cluster at roughly 10,000 units employing about 400,000 people. The same GT Road stretch carries some of the city's oldest large plants, including Hero Cycles at Hero Nagar, and Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College and its STEP incubator sit on Gill Road.
2 companies 2 coworking
Strong in Manufacturing
The industrial and logistics gateway on the south eastern edge of the city. Dhandari Kalan, listed as Industrial Area C, packs engineering, textile processing and manufacturing units, and the inland container depot at Sahnewal runs block trains to Mundra Port around 1,300 km away, which is how the city's hosiery, cycles and engineering goods reach export markets.
1 company
Strong in Manufacturing
The white collar spine of the city, running from Feroze Gandhi Market down the Ferozepur Road corridor, with corporate offices, professional firms and the residential and commercial colonies around them at Sarabha Nagar, Model Town, Kitchlu Nagar and Dugri Urban Estate. Ludhiana's small coworking scene sits here rather than in the industrial estates, and CT University and PCTE, both of which run campus incubators, are further out on the same road.
2 companies 7 coworking
Strong in Manufacturing, F&B
Answers about the Ludhiana startup scene
What does the startup ecosystem in Ludhiana look like?
It is a manufacturing ecosystem with a small startup layer on top. Industry and manufacturing is by far the largest vertical here, followed by D2C and the apparel and knitwear brands built on the city's own factories, and only a handful of companies look like venture backed technology startups. The companies list above shows who is building what, filterable by vertical.
Why is Ludhiana called the Manchester of India?
Because of hosiery. The city is India's woollen knitwear capital, making sweaters, thermals, shawls and T shirts at a scale industry bodies estimate at around 10,000 units and 400,000 workers, and the Knitwear Club alone represents roughly 14,000 MSMEs. The second cluster is bicycles and cycle parts, where Ludhiana makes the bulk of India's cycles.
Who are the best known companies from Ludhiana?
Hero Cycles, founded in 1956 and the world's largest bicycle manufacturer by volume, is the anchor. Vardhman and Trident are textile majors of national scale, Monte Carlo is the country's leading branded woollen player, Deepak Fasteners owns the Unbrako fastener brand worldwide, and Happy Forgings, which makes crankshafts and heavy forged components, listed in December 2023.
Are there many funded startups in Ludhiana?
Not many, and it is worth saying plainly. The genuinely venture or angel funded names are few, among them the streetwear brand Burger Bae, which raised on Shark Tank India in 2025, the tea brand Freshleaf, which raised a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures in 2024, the ayurvedic brand Add Veda, picked for the first Innovation Mission Punjab cohort, and the SaaS company Intervue. Most of the scale in the city sits with manufacturers rather than startups.
Which incubators and coworking spaces are in Ludhiana?
The incubators are campus hosted. Punjab Agricultural University runs the strongest of them, an agri business incubator plus a NIDHI-TBI, and Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, CT University and PCTE each run their own. The coworking section below lists the private spaces, most of them around Ferozepur Road and Feroze Gandhi Market and oriented towards small firms and trading offices as much as startups.
Are there investors and VCs in Ludhiana?
Ludhiana Angels Network is the one investor body based in the city, technology agnostic but tilted towards manufacturing and supply chain, and it runs a Startup Samagam showcase. Beyond that there is no local venture fund, so early cheques usually come from Chandigarh and Mohali through Chandigarh Angels Network, Punjab Angels Network and Innovation Mission Punjab. The investors section below lists what reaches founders here.
Does eChai run events in Ludhiana?
Not at the moment. eChai Ludhiana has one event on record, in 2019, and the chapter has been quiet since. The events section shows anything upcoming, and if you would like to help start it up again, get in touch.
How do I join the startup community in Ludhiana?
Most convening here runs through the industry bodies rather than startup meetups. CICU, founded in 1968 with more than 1,700 members, FICO, UCPMA, founded in 1969 for the cycle trade, and the Knitwear Club all hold expos and conferences through the year, TiE Chandigarh has opened a satellite office in the city, and PAU runs boot camps for its incubatees. eChai is free and open wherever it runs, with no application or membership fee.
Want to help restart eChai Ludhiana?
eChai has one Ludhiana event on record, back in 2019, and the chapter has been quiet since. If you are a founder or community builder who wants to convene free, open meetups here again, get in touch. TiE Chandigarh now keeps a satellite office in the city and PAU runs the incubator, so there are people to build it with. No membership, no fee.
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