We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 757 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
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1 resource from Backrr we point founders to, and the questions each answers.

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This is the side-by-side you actually need before you write a single application: 30+ Indian schemes with ticket size, eligibility, and a sector-to-body map that tells you biotech goes to BIRAC, defence to iDEX, and software proof-of-concept to SISFS. It also stages the grants (idea, prototype, scaling) so you stop applying to a scheme meant for a stage you are not at.

Government Grants for Early-Stage Indian Startups in 2026

From Backrr by Backrr 15 min read

  • Match by sector and stage: BIG (up to 50 lakh) for lab-provable biotech, SISFS (up to 20 lakh grant plus 50 lakh debt) for early software/product via an incubator, state schemes (Karnataka Elevate up to 50 lakh, TANSEED up to 10 lakh) when you are physically based there
  • SISFS caps you at 10 lakh of prior central/state government funding, so sequence it before or without heavy grant stacking
  • Sector determines the door more than the form: defence goes to iDEX, deep-tech to BIRAC/MeitY, generalist software to SISFS
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