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Startup India Recognition Eligibility

Recognition is free to apply for. Most rejections come down to one condition - the description of what makes the business innovative.

The conditions, briefly

  • Entity type. A private limited company, LLP or registered partnership firm. A proprietorship does not qualify.
  • Age. Within the prescribed period from incorporation. Older entities fall out.
  • Turnover. Below the prescribed limit in any financial year since incorporation.
  • Not formed by splitting or reconstruction of an existing business.
  • Working towards innovation — development or improvement of a product, process or service, or a scalable model with potential for employment or wealth creation.

Written 5 September 2026. Government requirements and portal behaviour change — message us to confirm before you rely on any date or figure here.

The innovation condition is where applications fail

The first four conditions are facts. Either you meet them or you do not, and you can check in a minute.

The fifth is a judgement, made by someone reading your description. An application that says the business sells a good product at a competitive price describes a business, not an innovation, and it is refused.

What works is specific: what problem exists, what the current way of solving it costs or fails to do, what you do differently, and why that is not simply doing the same thing more cheaply. Vague language about disruption and technology reads as filler. Concrete description of a real difference reads as a case.

Be honest about whether you qualify

A trading business, a service agency, a shop — these are perfectly good businesses that generally do not meet the innovation condition, and no amount of drafting changes that.

We will tell you if we think an application will not succeed. There is no fee for the application itself, so the cost of trying is mostly time, but there is no point pretending a case is stronger than it is. If recognition is not the route, MSME registration and the schemes attached to it usually are — see our page on MSME registration.

Common questions

The recognition application itself has no government fee. Be careful of anyone charging as if there were one.

Not as a proprietorship. Incorporating as a company or LLP first is the route, if the business justifies it.

Generally yes, with a stronger description. Send us the rejection and what you actually do.

No. It gives access to certain benefits and schemes - see our page on the tax exemption, which is a separate application.

Send us your case

Tell us what the business does and when it was incorporated. We will say honestly whether it is likely to qualify.

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