Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS)

SISFS (Startup India Seed Fund Scheme) is a Central Government programme that provides early-stage grant and debt funding to DPIIT-recognised startups through DPIIT-approved incubators, with SIDBI managing the corpus allocation. The total scheme outlay is ₹945 crore.

Who it applies to

• DPIIT-recognised startups less than 2 years old at the time of applying to the incubator
• Incorporated in India
• Has not received more than ₹10 lakh in monetary support from any Central or State government scheme
• Must apply through a DPIIT/SIDBI-approved host incubator — direct applications to DPIIT or SIDBI are not accepted

What you get

SISFS provides two distinct types of support at different stages:

• Grants up to ₹20 lakh — for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, and pre-market validation
• Convertible debentures or debt up to ₹50 lakh — for market entry, commercialisation, and initial scale-up

The incubator receives a corpus from SIDBI and disburses to selected startups across its cohorts. A 10% management fee on disbursements goes to the incubator for programme delivery.

What most founders miss

You apply to the incubator, not to DPIIT or SIDBI. Grants and the debt tranche are separate selection rounds — receiving a grant does not guarantee selection for the ₹50 lakh convertible debenture.

Not all recognised incubators have active SISFS corpus. An incubator listed as DPIIT-recognised does not mean it has SISFS funds available to disburse. Confirm directly with the incubator before applying.

The 2-year age limit is measured at the time you apply to the incubator, not when funds are disbursed. Startups that miss this window by a few weeks have no recourse.

See also

• DPIIT Recognition — required before applying
• Section 80-IAC — the tax holiday available to the same cohort of startups
• How to apply for SISFS — step by step
• SISFS on BenefitStack