Lok Sabha Question No. 5227 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: AI based Startups in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Sagar Eshwar Khandre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5227

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 02.04.2025

## AI BASED STARTUPS IN TIER-2 AND TIER-3 CITIES

## 5227.  SHRI SAGAR ESHWAR KHANDRE:

Will  the  Minister  of  ELECTRONICS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY  be  pleased  to state:

- (a)  whether the Government has any schemes to support AI-based startups in tier-2 and tier-3 cities; and
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  of  such  schemes  including  financial  assistance,  incubation  support  and project facilitation?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) and (b): The Government of India emphasizes the concept of 'AI for All ,' aligning with the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to democratise use of technology. Government is committed to harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the good of our people in sectors like healthcare, agriculture and education while mitigating risks associated with AI deployment.

Government has undertaken few initiatives and measures to promote a technology-led startups and  innovation  ecosystem  in  the  electronics  and  ICT  domains  in  Tier-2  and  Tier-3  cities including AI domain in the country. Major initiatives have been elucidated here:

GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups): Government has initiated the 'GenNext  Support  for  Innovative  Startups  (GENESIS)'  Scheme  with  the  aim  to  strengthen  the startup ecosystem in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities across India with an outlay of Rs. 490 Crore over period  of  five  years.  The  scheme  envisages  scaling  up  about  1,600  technology  startups,  to discover, nurture and grow technology startups.

Government has established 24 CoEs at Software Technology Park of India, an autonomous society  under  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  IT  focused  on  various  emerging  technologies  & sectors and also implementing Next generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) from 12 Tier-2 locations across  the  nation.  Through  these  initiatives,  360  degree  support  is  provided  to entrepreneurs in order to develop their ideas into innovative products. This support is in the form  of  Mentoring,  Networking,  Funding,  Access  to  Investor  Community,  IPR  facilitation, Market Connect, showcasing opportunities at various platforms/events nationally & internationally  along  with  world  class  plug-n-play  infrastructure  and  domain  specific  lab support. Total 458 AI startups have been supported through 24 CoEs and NGIS. Also, 104 AI

startups are  supported  by  the  scheme/CoEs  where  there  is  a  provision  of  seed  funding, detailed as below:

-  Under NGIS, 38 startups have been supported through seed funding support of upto ₹ 25 lacs each.
-  Under IMAGE CoE, 17 startups are  working  in  the  field  of  AI/  using  AI  in  other verticals such as Gaming, Animation, VFX, Computer Vision & AI at Hyderabad. The CoE  has  a  seed  fund  provisioned  up  to  Rs.  5  Lakhs  to  the  startups  in  the  focussed domain.
-  In OCTANE, 39 startups have been supported through a cluster of 8 CoEs is in the North-East  in  the  domain  of  AI,  from  which  CoE  on  Data  Analytics,  and  AI  is  at Agartala.  The  seed  fund  provision  available  to  startups  is  up  to  ₹  25  Lakhs  to  the startups.
-  In Emerging  Technology  CoE,  10  startups have  been  supported  at  Bhubaneswar based on AI. There is a seed fund provision available of up to ₹ 2 Lakhs to the startups in the focussed domain.

Government  has  initiated Technology  Incubation  and  Development  of      Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) Scheme with an aim to promote tech-based entrepreneurship through financial and technical  support  to  incubators.  The  scheme  had  provisions  to  support  51  incubators  in institutes of higher learning and premier R&D  organizations pan India to support approximately 2000 tech start-ups. Till now, total of 21 AI startups have been supported under the scheme.

In  order  to  promote  adoption  of  AI  in  the  country,  Union  Cabinet  led  by  Hon'ble  Prime Minister  has  approved  the IndiaAI  Mission on  7 th March  2024,  a  strategic  initiative  to establish a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem that aligns with the country's development goals. This mission is driven by a vision to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence by  focusing  on  seven  foundational  pillars:  IndiaAI  Compute,  IndiaAI  FutureSkills,  IndiaAI Startup Financing, IndiaAI Innovation Centre, IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Applications Development Initiative and Safe & Trusted AI.

Startups are being supported for building Foundation Models, AI Applications and Safe & Trusted tools under IndiaAI Mission .

## IndiaAI Applications Development Initiative:

-  IndiaAI Application Development Initiative aims to develop, scale, and promote the adoption of impactful AI solutions to effectively tackle significant problem statements.
-  IndiaAI  Innovation  challenge  was  launched  on  13th  August  2024  for  the  themes  of healthcare,  agriculture,  improved  governance,  climate  change  &  disaster  management  and assistive technologies for learning disabilities. The Innovation Challenge was open to Indian innovators, startups, non-profits, students, academic/R&D organizations, and companies. A total of 900 applications have been received across the five focus areas by the deadline of 30th  September.  Following  a  rigorous  evaluation  process, 30  AI  solutions  have  been shortlisted for  the next stage across three stages of maturity: Idea, Prototype, and Existing Solutions.  The  AI  solutions  at idea  stage  have  been  supported  by  Rs.  5  Lakh and  the
- solutions at prototype & solution stage have been supported by Rs. 25 Lakh . The details of shortlisted AI solutions are given at Appendix I.
-  CyberGuard AI Hackathon was launched on 17th October 2024 for Cybercrime prevention in collaboration  with  the  Indian  Cybercrime  Coordination  Centre  (I4C)  and  in  response  263 responses  have  been  received.  Shortlisted  20  teams  participated  in  3  days  hackathon  and currently, top 3 teams are being evaluated.

## Safe & Trusted AI:

-  This pillar enables the implementation of Responsible AI projects including the development of  indigenous  tools  and  frameworks,  self-assessment  checklists  for  innovators,  and  other guidelines and governance frameworks. In this regard, eight Responsible AI Projects have been selected to address the need for robust guardrails to ensure the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies. The projects cover a range of critical themes, including  Machine Unlearning,  Synthetic  Data  Generation,  AI  Bias  Mitigation,  Ethical  AI Frameworks,  Privacy-Enhancing  Tools,  Explainable  AI,  AI  Governance  Testing,  and Algorithm Auditing Tools. The details of the selected projects are given at Appendix II.
-  Expressions of Interest has been invited for responsible AI projects in the themes such as Watermarking & Labelling, Ethical AI Frameworks, AI Risk Assessment & Management, Stress Testing Tools, and Deepfake Detection Tools to ensure the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies. A total of 420 proposals have been received.

## IndiaAI Innovation Centre:

-  IndiaAI Innovation Centre aims to develop and deploy indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on India-specific data
-  A Call for Proposals has been launched on 30 th January, 2025 under this pillar to support the development of foundational AI models, inviting startups, researchers, and entrepreneurs to collaborate on creating state-of-the-art AI models using Indian datasets. This initiative aims to establish indigenous AI models, which can be Large Multimodal Models, Large Language Models  (LLM),  or  Small  Language  Models  (SLM),  to  address  India-specific  challenges across various sectors. A total of 187 proposals aimed at building India's foundation models, with contributions from both established startups and new teams of researchers & academia have been received till March 15.

## IndiaAI Startup Financing:

-  IndiaAI Startup Financing pillar is to provide support to AI startups at all stages. Multiple rounds  of  stakeholder  consultations  have  been  held  to  deliberate  on  the  scheme  for supporting AI Startups at Pre-Seed, Seed and Growth stage.
-  In  collaboration  with  STATION  F  and  HEC  Paris,  the  IndiaAI  Mission  has  launched  an acceleration program for Indian AI startups. This four-month immersive program (1 month online, 3 months onsite at STATION F in Paris) at the world's largest startup campus will provide  10  selected  AI  startups  with  access  to  mentorship,  networking,  and  global  market expansion  opportunities  in  Europe.  A  total  of 143  applications have  been  received  from Indian startups for participation in the acceleration program.

*******

## Appendix I

## The details of shortlisted AI solution under IndiaAI Application Development Initiative are as under:

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                                | Solution Description                                                                                                                                  | Stage    | Team Name                               | Theme       |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------------------------------------|-------------|
|        1 | Promoting regenerative agriculture practices for a sustainable future using AI                      | In-house developedMRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) technology designed to ensure the integrity and quality of generated carbon credits. | Solution | Varaha ClimateAG Private Limited        | Agriculture |
|        2 | Krishi Sah'AI'yak - Farming Co-pilot                                                                | AI-powered conversational co-pilot to provide personalized advisory to farmers in Indic languages                                                     | Solution | Samagra Development Associates Pvt. Ltd | Agriculture |
|        3 | Kadalcompass - We Amplify the voice of water using Hydro- AI,Underwatercom,IoUT with Sensor Network | 5G-enabled device that transforms fishing practices using AI, IoUT, and advanced communication technologies                                           | Solution | Innogle Technologies Pvt LTD            | Agriculture |
|        4 | KissanCopilot Multilingual Multimodal personalized AI Assistant for small holder farmers            | Powered by Dhenu's vertical LLM for agriculture, provides personalized agricultural advisory services to                                              | Solution | Titodi Infotech Pvt Ltd                 | Agriculture |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                            | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                          | Stage      | Team Name                      | Theme       |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|--------------------------------|-------------|
|          |                                                                                 | smallholder farmers.                                                                                                                                                          |            |                                |             |
| 5        | Rapid, chemical-free soil testing solution using NIR Spectroscopy& AI/ML models | End-to-end soil testing approach leverages an offline app, AI- powered spectral device, and ML models to deliver timely, chemical-free soil analysis.                         | Solution   | Neoperk Technologies           | Agriculture |
| 6        | AI deep-tech driven quality assessment of Maize                                 | SAAS platform to provide objective quality assessment of maize including price estimation &sales pipelining.                                                                  | Solution   | RootsGoods (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.     | Agriculture |
| 7        | AI-Driven Live Fish Logistics and Mortality Reduction in Aquaculture            | AI-driven solution that optimizes aquaculture operations                                                                                                                      | Solution   | Shuvoneel Ras System Pvt. Ltd. | Agriculture |
| 8        | QScan                                                                           | AI-powered IoT solution that captures critical data throughout the fresh produce lifecycle, providing real- time analysis of food quality and actionable insights to sellers. | ⁠Prototype | Qzense Labs Pvt Ltd            | Agriculture |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                   | Solution Description                                                                                                                | Stage      | Team Name                                                       | Theme      |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|------------|
|        9 | Heatwave Resilience: Integrating AI-based Advanced Forecasting for Extreme Heat Events | Integrates AI- based climate forecasting with health data to develop a targeted risk classification system for heat- health impacts | Idea       | I-Hub for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Innovation Foundation | Climate    |
|       10 | Multi-Hazard Susceptibility Mapping                                                    | hazard management system topredict Landslides, Debris Flows and Flash Floods                                                        | ⁠Prototype | Jarbits Pvt Ltd                                                 | Climate    |
|       11 | DeepFlood: Rapid flood inundation mapping using Vision Transformers and Satellite Data | Advanced flood inundation mapping tool using SAR data and deep learning models for real-time, automated flood detection             | ⁠Prototype | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi                            | Climate    |
|       12 | ⁠Moskeet: Climate impact on mosquito-borne diseases                                    | AI-powered platform integrates real- time climate data with mosquito tracking to predict and prevent disease outbreaks.             | ⁠Prototype | Moskeet AI                                                      | Climate    |
|       13 | End to End AI Cloud Platform for Radiology Diagnosis                                   | AI cloud platform for radiology diagnosis, integrating innovative technologies such as CV,                                          | Solution   | Endimension Technology Pvt. Ltd.                                | Healthcare |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                                             | Solution Description                                                                                                    | Stage     | Team Name                      | Theme      |
|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|--------------------------------|------------|
|          |                                                                                                  | GenAI, NLP, Dicom, mobile, and cloud computing                                                                          |           |                                |            |
| 14       | NIDAAN (iNtegrated lung health screening &tuberculosIs Detection through Ai At National scale)   | qXR, an advanced AI tool for interpreting chest X-rays (CXR), detects &localizes 30+ findings.                          | Solution  | Qure.ai Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Healthcare |
| 15       | Impactful AI solution, preventing preventable blindness, for socio- economic transformation.     | early detection of vision threatening retinal abnormalities                                                             | Solution  | Artelus                        | Healthcare |
| 16       | AI Powered Wearable Technology for Detection &Diagnosis of Musculoskeletal Joint Health Pain.    | AI Enabled Hardware Platform for Joint Pain Diagnostics and Rehabilitation Segments of Healthcare                       | Solution  | Startoon Labs Private Limited  | Healthcare |
| 17       | VoxelBox                                                                                         | Neuro- informatics platform that allows to map the functional maps / connectomics of the human brain                    | Prototype | BrainSight Technology Pvt Ltd  | Healthcare |
| 18       | Development of Ocellux: An AI-Based Solution for Enhanced Early Diabetic Eye Screening in INDIA. | Portable, affordable and highly accessible retina imaging device powered by AI for early detection of eye diseases like | Prototype | Anself Dynamics Pvt. Ltd.      | Healthcare |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                                | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                        | Stage     | Team Name             | Theme                 |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
|          |                                                                                     | Diabetic Retinopathy, AMD& Glaucoma                                                                                                                                                                         |           |                       |                       |
| 19       | Revolutionizing healthcare using doctor- led AI                                     | AI-powered personal doctor available 24x7 and free of cost, designed to assist people when they are sick, monitor their health through wearables, and act as a health coach to prevent diseases.            | Prototype | Jivi Health Pvt. Ltd. | Healthcare            |
| 20       | AI/ML enabled MafPro device platform for cancer staging, localization, and margins. | MafPro handheld detector provides a radiation-free, non-invasive, safe and cost- effective solution that can reliably detect and adequately evaluate metastases in lymph nodes using AI/ML based algorithms | Prototype | SIAMAF Healthcare     | Healthcare            |
| 21       | Readabled (Online Dyslexia Training)                                                | web-based application designed to help children with dyslexia improve phonetic awareness                                                                                                                    | ⁠Existing | Hermit Labs Pvt. Ltd. | Learning disabilities |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                               | Solution Description                                                                                                                            | Stage      | Team Name                                   | Theme                 |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
|          |                                                                                    | through interactive exercises.                                                                                                                  |            |                                             |                       |
| 22       | Voice fusion AI                                                                    | AI application to provide assistive support to individuals with SLDs in multiple Indian languages                                               | ⁠Prototype | PerpetualBlock Technologies Private Limited | Learning disabilities |
| 23       | ScreenPlay - a digital game based screening tool for autism and related disorders. | Digital, game- based screening tool designed to identify children aged 3 to 6 who may be at risk for autism or related developmental conditions | ⁠Existing  | Kidaura Innovations Pvt Ltd                 | Learning disabilities |
| 24       | Jiveesha                                                                           | AI-powered diagnostic platform for early detection of SLDs                                                                                      | Idea       | Daira Edtech Private Limited                | Learning disabilities |
| 25       | Adaptive Learning and Detection for SLDs                                           | Advanced AI techniques to detect Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.                           | ⁠Prototype | Narottam Innovations Pvt. Ltd.              | Learning disabilities |
| 26       | Special Educator AI                                                                | AI-driven system designed to address India's shortage of special educators and                                                                  | Idea       | Banyan Intelligence Private Limited         | Learning disabilities |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                 | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                          | Stage      | Team Name                                | Theme      |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|------------------------------------------|------------|
|          |                                      | support children with SLDs.                                                                                                                                                                                   |            |                                          |            |
| 27       | ConvoZen.AI by NoBroker Technologies | AI-powered conversational platform that automates customer engagement across channels like chat, voice, email, and social media, offering fast, personalized, and multilingual support.                       | Solution   | Nobroker Technologies Solutions Pvt. Ltd | Governance |
| 28       | AI contact center                    | AI-powered technologies like machine translation, NLP, ASR and TTS, and multilingual voice recognition to enhance governance by improving communication and accessibility across India's linguistic diversity | Solution   | Devnagri AI Pvt. Ltd                     | Governance |
| 29       | Adalat AI: AI solutions for Courts   | AI-powered platform provides real- time multilingual transcription, translation, live case flow                                                                                                               | ⁠Prototype | Legsys.AI Technology Foundation          | Governance |

<!-- image -->

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution   | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                              | Stage    | Team Name                   | Theme      |
|----------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------------------------|------------|
|       30 | Gov.Civis.Vote         | chatbots to streamline courtroom operations AI-powered Digital Public Infrastructure designed to transform public consultations in India by making citizen engagement more inclusive, scalable, and comprehensive | Solution | Civic Innovation Foundation | Governance |

## APPENDIX II

## The details of the selected projects under 'Safe & Trusted AI' Pillar are as under:

| NAME OFTHE THEME                   | SELECTEDAPPLICANT                                                                 | TITLE OFTHE PROJECT                                                                                                                                                               |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Machine Unlearning                 | IIT Jodhpur                                                                       | Machine Unlearning in Generative Foundation Models                                                                                                                                |
| Synthetic Data Generation          | IIT Roorkee                                                                       | Design and Development of Method for Generating Synthetic Data for Mitigating Bias in Datasets; and Framework for Mitigating Bias in Machine Learning Pipeline for Responsible AI |
| AI Bias Mitigation Strategy        | National Institute of Technology Raipur                                           | Development of Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bias Mitigation in Health Care Systems                                                                                     |
| Explainable AI Framework           | DIAT Pune and Mindgraph Technology Pvt. Ltd.                                      | Enabling Explainable and Privacy Preserving AI for Security                                                                                                                       |
| Privacy Enhancing Strategy         | IIT Delhi, IIIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) | Robust Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Models                                                                                                                                 |
| AI Ethical Certification Framework | IIIT Delhi and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)                         | Tools for assessing fairness of AI model                                                                                                                                          |
| AI Algorithm Auditing Tool         | Civic Data Labs Pvt. Ltd.                                                         | ParakhAI - An open-source framework and toolkit for Participatory Algorithmic Auditing                                                                                            |
| AI Governance Testing Framework    | Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)         | Track-LLM, Transparency, Risk Assessment, Context & Knowledge for Large Language Models                                                                                           |

*******