The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has announced institution of the first ever National Startup Awards. The National Startup Awards seek to recognize and reward outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are building innovative products or solutions and scalable enterprises, with high potential of employment generation or wealth creation, demonstrating measurable social impact. The measure of success will not only be the financial gains for the investors but also the contribution to the social good, said Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce and Industry and Railways while announcing the launch of the awards.

The applications for the awards are open till 31st December 2019.

The Awards will recognize exceptional startups across various categories that are providing innovative solutions to solve real problems and challenges for India, developing innovative technologies, products and solutions from India to the world, building businesses that are scalable, sustainable and responsible and delivering measurable developmental gains.

The National Startup Awards will also reward exceptional Incubators and Accelerators as key building blocks of a robust startup ecosystem.

The awards for startups will be given in 35 areas, classified into 12 broad sectors like agriculture, education, enterprise technology, energy, finance, food, health, Industry 4.0, space, security, tourism, and urban services.  In addition, there are three special awards for startups from educational institutions, making impact in rural areas and women entrepreneurs.

A cash prize of ₹ 5 lakh each will be awarded to the winning startup in each area. The winner and 4 runners-up will also be given opportunities to present their solutions to relevant public authorities and corporates for potential pilot projects and work orders. They will also be given priority for participation in various national and international startup events.

A cash prize of ₹ 15 lakh each will be awarded to one winning Incubator and one winning Accelerator as well.

National Startup Awards incentivise innovative scalable startups with cash prizes and access to pilot and market opportunities. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has instituted the National Startup Awards to recognise startups and ecosystem enablers that develop innovative, scalable solutions with employment, wealth creation and measurable social impact; winners and runners up receive cash prizes, opportunities to present to public authorities and corporates for pilot projects and priority participation in national and international startup events.