The Startup India Seed Fund Scheme offers up to ₹20 lakh as grant and up to ₹50 lakh as convertible debentures – but seven eligibility gates decide who can apply. Answer the questions below against the official guidelines and see exactly where you stand, gate by gate, including which component (grant, debt, or both) you could seek. The checker implements the scheme’s published criteria as they stand in 2026.
Answer seven questions
The gates, explained
DPIIT recognition is absolute – apply for it first (guide; the 2026 definition covers 10 years and ₹200 crore turnover, so recognition is rarely the binding constraint – the SISFS age gate is). Two years from incorporation is measured at the time of application to the incubator – a 2-year-old company is at the boundary, so do not sit on eligibility. Technology in the core is a stated requirement – product, service, business model, distribution or methodology. The ₹10 lakh prior-support cap counts monetary support from other government schemes but excludes competition prize money, subsidised workspace, founder monthly allowances, and lab or prototyping access – so incubation benefits rarely disqualify. 51% Indian promoter shareholding is tested at application (majority-foreign cap tables are out – NRI founders structured on a non-repatriation basis should take specific advice on how their holding is counted). And each component – the validation grant and the market-entry debt – can be availed once each: a startup that took the grant can still seek the CD tranche, to a practical combined ceiling of ₹70 lakh.
What selection actually turns on
Eligibility gets you to the incubator’s screening committee; selection turns on the pitch – problem, innovation, team, market and the credibility of your milestone plan, scored by each incubator’s ISMC. Practical edge: choose your three incubator preferences on disbursement track record (ask each for their funded count and average time-to-first-tranche), align your ask to milestones the committee can verify, and have the compliance file – incorporation, DPIIT certificate, bank account, clean cap table – ready on day one; the guidelines target first grant disbursement within 60 days of application. The debt tranche arrives as convertible debentures at up to repo-rate interest over up to five years – it sits on your cap table and converts, so disclose it in your next round’s diligence like any other instrument (DD checklist).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we apply while our DPIIT application is pending?
No – recognition must be in hand. It is free and typically quick, so sequence it: DPIIT first, then SISFS the moment a window is open, since the 2-year incorporation clock keeps running regardless.
Does an incubation-programme grant of ₹5 lakh plus free workspace breach the ₹10 lakh cap?
No – the ₹5 lakh counts (it is monetary support) but stays under ₹10 lakh, and subsidised workspace is expressly excluded from the computation, as are prize money, founder allowances and lab access.
Is the ₹50 lakh debt component a loan we must secure?
It comes as convertible debentures or debt-linked instruments – unsecured, no promoter guarantee, interest capped at the prevailing repo rate, tenure up to five years with a moratorium of up to 12 months. Economically it is the friendliest debt a pre-seed company will ever see.
We took SISFS money – can we still raise an angel round?
Yes, and it is the intended sequence: government money buys evidence, private money buys scale. Disclose the CD instrument in the round; it converts per its terms. See the angel round guide for what comes next.
Last reviewed: August 2026. Criteria per the official SISFS Guidelines (startupindia.gov.in) and the Startup Schemes Playbook (June 2026); window status as published – verify on seedfund.startupindia.gov.in before applying.