Government of Uttar Pradesh

The Government of Uttar Pradesh is the state administration of India’s most populous state. Through its IT & Electronics department and the UP Startup Policy, it works to develop a distributed startup ecosystem, with incubators located across all divisions of the state.

The UP Startup Policy aims to establish a broad network of incubators and a substantial startup base, supported by dedicated funding, infrastructure, and incentives. A major incubator and innovation hub operates in Lucknow, with additional incubators in Noida, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, and other cities, often set up in collaboration with academic institutions.

Support available under the policy includes a monthly sustenance allowance for incubated startups, with enhanced amounts for women-led ventures; seed and prototype grants disbursed through recognised state incubators; a state startup fund or Fund of Funds for early-stage capital; and incentives covering marketing, patents, and reimbursement of incubation or infrastructure costs. Focus areas include agritech, manufacturing and MSME-linked innovation, IT/ITeS, fintech, edtech, healthtech, and ODOP-linked enterprise. Eligibility is limited to DPIIT-recognised startups registered or operating in Uttar Pradesh and incubated at state-recognised incubators, with additional support for women entrepreneurs. Founders based in or expanding to the state should contact recognised incubators and monitor programmes at up.gov.in or startup.up.gov.in.