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National Startup Awards 6.0: DPIIT offers Rs 25 lakh per category, applications close November 20
The sixth edition adds 12 new sectors, including telecom and digital infrastructure, and a first award for school and college students. Winners are due on National Startup Day, 16 January 2027.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is taking applications for the sixth edition of the National Startup Awards, run under the Startup India programme of the commerce and industry ministry. According to the government's press release on PIB, the window opened on 27 October 2026 and stays open until 20 November 2026. PTI, in a report carried by BusinessLine and YourStory on 10 November, said the winner in each category will get Rs 25 lakh.
This edition is built around 20 sector categories, 12 of them new. The new ones include Electronics, Semiconductors and Advanced Manufacturing; Telecom, Connectivity and Digital Infrastructure; Defence and Security; Space Tech, Drones and Aerospace; Future Mobility and Automotive; Biomanufacturing; and Ocean and Blue Economy. Returning areas include FinTech, Financial Services and Inclusion; DeepTech and Frontier Technologies; Healthcare and MedTech; and Agriculture and AgriTech. There are also three special awards: Women Led Startup of the Year, North East Startup Excellence and, for the first time, a Student Innovator and Aspiring Entrepreneur award.
Startups must be recognised by DPIIT and registered on the Startup India portal, and the official FAQ says a startup can enter up to three categories, with forms filled in English only. PTI noted that more than 2.6 lakh entities are recognised as startups by the department. Winners in the 20 sector categories and the two startup special categories each get Rs 25 lakh, while the student award shares a Rs 25 lakh pool across four age groups, from 10 to 14 year olds up to those above 18. Selection runs through sector committees that include ministries, incubators, banks and funds, then a pitching event and a national jury.
The Startup India page says winners are scheduled to be announced on National Startup Day, 16 January 2027. The government release ties the edition to ten years of Startup India, launched in January 2016; the awards themselves began in 2019. For founders, the deadline is the thing to watch: applications close on 20 November, and the prize, while useful, matters less than the visibility and investor access the department says the awards will bring.
