HP Incubation Centre

Eligibility criteria

Individuals

The individual applicant should be an Indian citizen.
The primary applicant should be the Project Leader who meets eligibility requirements mentioned below.
The applicant may be physically incubated in an incubator such as IITs, IISc, NITs, CSIR labs and other government recognized research labs. However, this is not a mandatory requirement.
If the applicant is formally employed (or registered as a student) with a non-profit academic or research organization, then

the applicant has to produce a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the head of the organization clearly indicating that the organization has policies in place to allow the applicant to accept funding support (if successful) as an individual and undertake HPCL projects or alternatively, has policies in place to allow its employees to create entrepreneurial ventures while in service or while in sabbatical leave or while in EOL (extra-ordinary leave).
Alternatively, the applicant needs to provide an undertaking that he / she plans to terminate his association with the current employer and take up the project full time in the event of a grant approval. A resignation / relieving / retirement letter will be needed as supporting document before final approval and release of the grant.

the applicant needs to provide an undertaking that he / she plans to terminate his association with the current employer and take up the project full time in the event of a grant approval. A resignation / relieving / retirement letter will be needed as supporting document before final approval and release of the grant.

If the applicant has a controlling stake / role in an ineligible Company, then the applicant is ineligible as an individual applicant.
An individual that has already received HPCL support once is not eligible for receiving funding support from HPCL again.

Company

The Company should be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956/2013.
The incorporation date of the Company should not be earlier than 3 years from the date of launch of the HPCL call.
A company is considered as 'Owned’ by resident Indian citizen if minimum 51% of the capital in it is beneficially owned by resident Indian citizens and / or Indian companies, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens.
Project Leader who meets eligibility requirements mentioned below must represent the Company’s application.
The Company shall have its own in-house R&D facilities that are functional and adequate to execute the project. If the Company does not have a functional and adequate laboratory of its own, then it should have plans for incubation with institutions / centres / organizations with adequate laboratory facilities.
The Company controlled by an ineligible entity (Company or individual) is ineligible.
The Company that has already received HPCL support once is not eligible for receiving HPCL funding support once again.

Other eligibility criteria

Every proposal must clearly identify a Project Leader who will take responsibility for the technical and managerial aspects of the project execution.
The Project Leader must be technically qualified to undertake the project. The Project Leader must have completed graduate / post-graduate course in engineering / chemistry / biotechnology / sciences.
In the event that the proposal is shortlisted for presentation in front of the HPCL Committee, then the same Project Leader will be required to present the case for support. In the event that proposal is selected for funding support, then the Project Leader will be required to sign the project agreement.

Applicants are expected to show documentary evidence that they have tied up the following critical resources needed to execute the project:

At the time of application and prior to shortlisting for presentation to the HPCL Committee:

Letter of commitment from scientific advisors to serve as honorary advisors, if any.
Letter of intent of key members of the technical team.
Letter of interest / intent from the incubator, if any.
Evidence of access to key facilities needed to execute a project.

The project cannot be the same as another project by the same applicant with the same scope and objectives that has already received funding from another source of government / other PSUs grant-in-aid funding.