Pusa Krishi Grants Open

Pusa Krishi, the startup incubator at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, has opened applications for its 2026-27 grant programs for early-stage agriculture ventures. (iari.res.in) The two tracks are UPJA, aimed at startups with a minimum viable product, and ARISE, aimed at pre-seed ideas that still need early validation. Both sit under the RKVY-RAFTAAR initiative of India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. (pusakrishi.in) (iari.res.in) ARISE offers selected startups up to ₹5,00,000 in grant-in-aid after training and jury pitching, along with mentoring, market linkages and business support. The current application deadline listed by grant trackers is May 17, 2026. (pusakrishi.in) (fundsforcompanies.fundsforngos.org) UPJA is positioned one step later: Pusa Krishi says it is for ventures at the MVP stage and offers technology validation, pilot opportunities, go-to-market support and industry linkages. A separate startup news report said total support in the 2026 programs can run as high as ₹25 lakh, depending on the track. (pusakrishi.in) (mystartupnews.in) This is startup incubation, not a farm equipment subsidy. The program is built to help founders test a product, refine a business model and find customers before trying to scale. (fundsforcompanies.fundsforngos.org) (pusakrishi.in) Pusa Krishi says it focuses on problems including farm mechanization, precision agriculture, supply chains, post-harvest management, animal husbandry, food technology and sustainability. Those are the parts of agriculture where startups often need lab access, field trials and institutional backing as much as cash. (fundsforcompanies.fundsforngos.org) (pusakrishi.in) The incubator is part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi, one of India’s main public agricultural research centers. Pusa Krishi says it has run 15 incubation programs, incubated 266 startups and funded 94 of them with a combined ₹7.97 crore. (iari.res.in) That track record helps explain the pitch to founders: access to scientists, labs and pilots can matter as much as grant size in agricultural businesses, where product testing often takes a full crop cycle. Pusa Krishi’s facilities list includes post-harvest, biotechnology and bioinformatics labs for incubated ventures. (pusakrishi.in) (iari.res.in) For founders building sensors, seed technologies, food products or logistics tools, the next date that matters is May 17, 2026. For everyone else, the program is a window into how India is trying to turn public farm research into private agri-startups. (fundsforcompanies.fundsforngos.org) (iari.res.in)