Agri

The Agri Business Incubation Centre (ABIC) at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar, has been officially registered under the state government’s Startup Haryana policy.

The registration will enable agriculture-based startups incubated at ABIC to access a range of benefits under the policy, including grants of up to Rs 10 lakh for product development, prototype creation, market validation and business scaling.

ABIC has been operating at the university under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)-RAFTAAR programme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Since its inception, it has trained 280 agripreneurs across seven training batches. Grant assistance of nearly Rs 10 crore has also been approved for 77 agri-startups under the programme.

Describing the registration as a major boost for startups, Vice-Chancellor Prof Baldev Raj Kamboj said joining the Startup Haryana framework would further strengthen the university’s innovation ecosystem. He said the move would create new opportunities for young entrepreneurs in agriculture and help foster a stronger agri-startup ecosystem in Haryana.

Prof Kamboj said ABIC would play a pivotal role in taking the state’s agricultural innovations to national and international platforms in the coming years.

ABIC Director Dr Rajesh Gera said the incubation centre had been actively promoting agriculture- and farmer-centric innovations since its establishment in 2019. Financial assistance received under the programme has also been used to develop state-of-the-art incubation infrastructure and install advanced equipment.

He said these facilities had significantly strengthened ABIC’s laboratories, testing capabilities, mentoring support and industry-startup linkages. The incubated startups have contributed to the development of innovative agricultural technologies, value addition, employment generation and higher farm incomes, he added.

Dr Gera said ABIC would soon invite applications for its next training batch, allowing more aspiring agri-entrepreneurs to benefit from the programme.

Prof Kamboj said that, under the Startup Haryana policy, registered incubators such as ABIC are eligible for financial assistance of up to Rs 50 lakh to organise or participate in national and international exhibitions, startup delegations, seminars and expositions. They can also receive support of up to Rs 20 lakh to organise startup competitions, hackathons and innovation programmes.

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