NITI Aayog to Offer Rs 1 Cr Grant, Mentorship to MSMEs, Startups, Innovators Under Atal New India Challenge

NITI Aayog will soon seek applications for Atal New India Challenge under which it will invite prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus areas.

Under the challenge, grants of upto Rs 1 crore will be given along with mentorship to the winning ideas.

“Under the Atal New India Challenge, which shall be run in collaboration with five ministries, AIM will invite prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus areas such as Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Mobility, Predictive Maintenance of Rolling Stock, Waste Management etc,” the Aaoyog said in a release.

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under the NITI Aayog is launching the Atal New India Challenge tomorrow on April 26, 2018.

Applicants showing capability, intent and potential to productize technologies will be awarded grants up to Rs. One crore. This grant will be further supplemented by mentoring, handholding, incubating and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation, while generating wider deployment for the product.

The event will see presence of  Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation,  Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,  Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs, SS Ahluwalia, Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation,  Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and  Ramanathan Ramanan, Mission Director, AIM.