Deadline Date: July 18, 2026
The XCITE Rural Business Incubation Initiative is requesting applications to support entrepreneurs building innovative and impact-driven enterprises in Eastern and North-Eastern India.
The focus areas of the initiative include nurturing rural entrepreneurs, supporting innovative and impact-driven enterprises, providing structured incubation support, mentorship, capacity building, expert guidance, market and ecosystem linkages, access to networks, seed grants, follow-on equity or loan support, prototype validation, market linkage, revenue benchmarks, and supporting startups, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self-help Groups (SHGs), cooperatives, and student ventures.
XCITE is a rural business incubation initiative at XLRI Jamshedpur, supported by NABARD, dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs from Eastern and North-Eastern India.
Selected entrepreneurs will receive incubation support through mentorship, capacity building, expert guidance, market and ecosystem linkages, and access to networks. Eligible ventures may receive grant support of up to ₹5 lakhs based on business milestones.
The initiative provides capital support at two stages. The first tier offers a seed grant of up to ₹5 lakh during incubation, disbursed in three tranches against co-created milestones such as prototype validation, market linkage, or revenue benchmarks.
The second tier provides follow-on capital of up to ₹10 lakh through equity or loan support for ventures that successfully complete their incubation milestones.
XCITE supports individual founders as well as community-owned enterprises, including startups, Farmer Producer Organisations, Self-help Groups, cooperatives, and student ventures.
For more information, visit Sayuj.
