Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy Prototype Development Grant

What is the Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy prototype grant?

The Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy Prototype Development Grant is a financial incentive under the Uttar Pradesh Startup Policy 2020, approved by the state cabinet on 15 July 2020 and administered by the Department of IT and Electronics. It pays a recognised startup up to Rs 5 lakh as a one-time grant, disbursed in a single payment, to convert a validated idea into a working prototype.

The grant sits in the middle of a deliberate ladder of support built into the policy, and understanding where it sits saves applicants a great deal of time. At the idea stage, the policy pays a sustenance allowance of Rs 17,500 per month per startup for one year, for up to 25 startups per incubator per year. Once a prototype exists and the startup has an MVP to launch, the policy pays seed capital and marketing assistance of up to Rs 7.5 lakh. The prototype grant is the bridge between those two: money to actually build the thing.

According to the StartinUP FAQ, the prototype grant is available to entities that are both DPIIT registered and StartinUP registered. The portal is published and managed by Uttar Pradesh Electronics Corporation Limited (UPLC), and it reported 3,644 StartinUP-recognised startups at the time of checking.

The policy's ambitions are stated in Hindi and English government orders on the portal; the scheme is commonly referred to by the portal's own transliterated brand, StartinUP, which is what most founders in Lucknow, Noida, Kanpur and Varanasi search for.

Who is eligible for the prototype grant?

You can claim the prototype grant if:

• Your entity is incorporated or registered in India within the last 10 years, as a private limited company, a registered partnership firm or a limited liability partnership.
• Your annual turnover has not exceeded Rs 100 crore in any financial year since incorporation.
• The entity works towards innovation, development or improvement of products, processes or services, or has a scalable business model with high potential for employment generation or wealth creation.
• You hold a DPIIT recognition certificate under Startup India.
• You hold a StartinUP recognition certificate issued on startinup.up.gov.in.
• You are incubated with a StartinUP-recognised incubator, which validates the prototype milestone and routes the claim.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• Your entity has crossed 10 years from the date of incorporation.
• Turnover has crossed Rs 100 crore in any financial year.
• The entity was formed by splitting up or reconstructing an existing business, which is excluded by the standard startup definition the policy adopts.
• You operate as a sole proprietorship or an unregistered venture. The definition covers companies, registered partnerships and LLPs.
• You are an individual with only an idea and no registered entity. Apply for registration first; the sustenance allowance route through an incubator is the appropriate head at that stage.
• You are seeking working capital, salary support or general business expansion funding. The prototype grant funds prototype development specifically.

Startups founded by women, divyangjan or transgender persons, and those based in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand, receive an additional 50 percent under the policy's sustenance allowance and seed capital heads — a bias built into the policy to correct the geographic concentration of startups in the Noida–Ghaziabad belt.

How to apply for the UP prototype development grant

1. Get DPIIT recognition first. Register your entity on the Startup India portal and obtain the DPIIT recognition certificate. There is no fee. Without this certificate the prototype grant claim will not proceed.
2. Register on StartinUP. Go to startinup.up.gov.in, click Register, create your account, and complete the startup registration form. The Startup Registration Manual published on the portal walks through each field. There is no registration fee, and the recognition certificate is issued within 3 working days. If the application is rejected, correct the defect and resubmit, resubmission is expressly allowed.
3. Get incubated with a recognised incubator. Use the Recognized Incubators list on the portal to identify an incubator in your sector and region, and secure an incubation letter. The policy channels prototype and seed-stage support through incubators, and Centres of Excellence such as the MedTech CoE in Lucknow, the AIIDE CoE in Noida and the Drone CoE in Kanpur are relevant if your product is in those domains.
4. Prepare the prototype plan. Write a technical description of what will be built, a bill of materials, fabrication, tooling and testing costs, and a timeline with a definable completion milestone. The grant is milestone-based in the sense that it is released against a prototype the incubator can verify.
5. Log in and file the claim. Sign in to startinup.up.gov.in with your registered credentials, open the Startup Funding section, select the prototype development head, upload the incorporation certificate, DPIIT and StartinUP certificates, incubation letter, PAN, prototype plan and budget, and entity bank details with a cancelled cheque, then submit.
6. Track and respond. Monitor the application from your dashboard and answer any query raised by the incubator or the department within the time allowed. On approval, the full amount is transferred in one tranche to the startup's current account.

How is the money paid, and when?

The prototype grant is paid as a single payment of up to Rs 5 lakh into the registered entity's bank account. This is the clearest structural difference from the seed capital and marketing assistance head, which is released in three milestone-linked instalments split 40 percent, 30 percent and 30 percent and is limited to 25 startups per incubator per year.

There is no published annual last date for prototype grant claims. Claims are processed on a rolling basis while the policy and its incentive notifications remain in force. The relevant notification on claiming financial incentives under the policy is dated 31 August 2020, and a separate government order dated 30 July 2021 deals with incentives to startups in the disruptive technology sector, both are downloadable from the Startup Policy 2020 page on the portal.

What other support does the policy give?

• Sustenance allowance: Rs 17,500 per month per startup for one year, for up to 25 startups per incubator per year, at the idea stage.
• Seed capital and marketing assistance: up to Rs 7.5 lakh per startup for launching the MVP in the market, paid 40-30-30 across three milestones.
• Patent reimbursement: Rs 2 lakh for Indian patents and Rs 10 lakh for international patents, for successfully awarded patents of incubated startups.
• Event participation support, SIDBI Fund of Funds access and the central Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), all listed on the portal's funding page.
• Public procurement relaxations and a "Know your industry clearances" tool.
• Centres of Excellence in medtech, AI and IoT, drones, blockchain, telecom 5G/6G and additive manufacturing.

Why do prototype grant claims get rejected?

• Missing DPIIT recognition. The most common single defect. StartinUP recognition alone is not enough for this head.
• Entity age or turnover outside limits. More than 10 years since incorporation, or turnover above Rs 100 crore in any year, disqualifies the entity.
• No incubation linkage. A claim filed directly, without a StartinUP-recognised incubator validating it, has no route through the system.
• Vague prototype plan. A plan without a bill of materials, costs and a verifiable completion milestone gives the incubator nothing to certify against.
• Bank account in a founder's name. The transfer is to the registered entity's current account; a personal savings account will stall the payment.
• Mismatch between documents. Entity name, PAN and bank account name must match exactly across the incorporation certificate, DPIIT certificate and StartinUP certificate.

How do I get help or raise a grievance?

Call the startup help desk on 0522-4130303, extension 302 for policy-related support, 7518980077 for technical problems with the portal, or the toll-free 1800-121-1250 for legal and compliance support. Working hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on working days. Email info@itpolicyup.gov.in, or write to 1st Floor, UPLC, Navchetna Kendra, 10 Ashok Marg, Lucknow 226001.

The StartinUP portal carries a dedicated Grievance Redressal section, and the policy pages name a nodal department, nodal agency and nodal officer for escalation. A complaint that stays unresolved can additionally be lodged on the Uttar Pradesh Jansunwai portal at jansunwai.up.nic.in, which issues a trackable reference number and routes the matter to the IT and Electronics Department.

How to check your application status

On the StartinUP portal (primary method). Log in at startinup.up.gov.in with the registered credentials used at the time of StartinUP registration and open the applicant dashboard. The dashboard shows the current stage of a prototype grant claim, whether it is with the incubator for verification, forwarded to the department, or approved for payment. A claim typically moves through three visible stages: submitted, under incubator review, and disbursed.

Watch for queries, not just a status label. The most common reason a claim appears stuck is a pending query from the incubator or the department, for example a request to clarify the bill of materials or to fix a mismatch between the entity name on the DPIIT certificate and the bank account. These queries show up on the dashboard and, in practice, need a reply within the timeframe stated in the query itself; an unanswered query is the single biggest cause of delay, not a rejection.

Through the incubator directly. Since the prototype grant is routed and certified through a StartinUP-recognised incubator rather than filed straight with the department, the incubator's own point of contact can usually give a faster, more specific update than the portal dashboard, particularly on whether the prototype milestone itself has been signed off.

By phone or email, if the portal shows no movement. Call the startup help desk on 0522-4130303 (extension 302) for policy-related queries about a pending claim, or 7518980077 if the dashboard itself is not loading or updating correctly. Email info@itpolicyup.gov.in with the StartinUP registration number and incubator name if a written follow-up is needed.

If the claim stays unresolved beyond a reasonable period. Use the Grievance Redressal section on the StartinUP portal first. If that does not produce movement, a complaint can be lodged on the Uttar Pradesh Jansunwai portal at jansunwai.up.nic.in, which issues a trackable reference number and routes the matter to the Department of IT and Electronics for escalation beyond the portal and incubator level.