The government’s push on entrepreneurship through the Atal Innovation Mission promised to transform Indian colleges into innovation hubs. A decade on, that ambition remains largely unrealized.
Since 2016, the Centre has established Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) in 60 institutions across the country under the initiative, spearheaded by think tank Niti Aayog.
Of these, 38 have incubated 3,067 startups. While eight don’t list a specific number, Mint calculations show they’ve helped incubate more than 3,500 startups. Five don't list how many startups have been part of their portfolio, and nine don't have functional websites.
In total, 46 of these incubators have produced 6,567 companies—just 2.8% of the country's 226,561 startups recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of India (DPIIT).
Telangana-based T-Hub stands out for its portfolio, which includes the spacetech major Skyroot Aerospace, the short-form entertainment platform PocketFM, and the headless CMS platform Contentstack. The rest have produced little of note in consumer markets or business-to-business venture capital circles. However, it existed before it was accredited as an AIC.
The IITs, in comparison, have delivered stronger outcomes. Over the past 12 years, IIT Madras has incubated 457 startups, including publicly listed Ather Energy, aerospace manufacturer Agnikul Cosmos, and AI platform unicorn Uniphore, among others. Between 2018 and 2024, IIT Delhi incubated 147 startups.
IIM Ahmedabad, through its venture arm IIMA Ventures, has backed 169 ventures, including space company Bellatrix Aerospace, robotics firm CynLr, and electric air taxi startup ePlane. IIM Bangalore has supported 4,514 startups through its incubation centre NSRCEL, according to its website.
India is home to nearly 1,096 accelerators and incubators, according to startup data platform Tracxn. Incubators typically help teams develop and refine their businesses, while accelerators focus on rapid scaling, often through short-term programmes. Notable accelerators include Peak XV’s Surge platform, Accel Atoms, Lightspeed’s India Ascends, Venture Catalysts, and 100 Unicorns.
The urgency to fix this is mounting as AI kills entry-level jobs that once gave graduates a financial cushion while they figured things out.
Active tech job demand fell 8% month-on-month to 110,000 roles in April 2026, according to staffing firm Xpheno. Fresher openings dropped 11% year-on-year, while mid-to-senior roles now account for 54% of the total hiring.
“AI is bringing with it a lot of disruption, and we don't know what kinds of jobs will be available three to five years down the line,” said Rahul Nainwal, chief executive of Dehradun-based private university UPES's Runway Incubator. “All the more reason that students pick up skills to start their own ventures.”
Misaligned expectations
The issues plaguing both private and public universities stem more from misconceptions about startups.
For example, Delhi-based public university Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) runs three incubation labs across its Delhi campus—an Internet of Things (IoT) lab, a fabrication unit and an NVIDIA DGX A100 GPU cluster. Currently, 50 startups are being incubated at NSUT. Throughout its history, it has incubated over 100, with only around 10 having raised further capital.
Himanshu Singhal, CEO of the NSUT Incubation and Innovation Foundation, said the low conversion rate arises from students pivoting away from their businesses in their final years. “They get good placements. When you're at a startup, you're not going to be earning a lot. They prefer the security of a high-paying job—it's only fair.”
Other times, students are fundamentally misaligned with how startups operate, expecting quick returns within two to three years, even when building in deeptech.
Private universities have fared slightly better. Greater Noida-based Shiv Nadar University has backed around 88 startups since 2017, of which 20-25 have received outside funding. Sonipat-based Ashoka University's Centre for Entrepreneurship has backed 80 startups since 2014, 15-20 of which have raised follow-on funding. UPES's Runway Incubator has birthed around 180 startups since 2013.
“I'd say we have a 50% mortality rate,” said Nainwal. The incubator runs two cohorts a year, drawing around 500 applicants each, of which 20-25 are selected. “Only about 50% of them will actually get another grant, incorporate and do something.”
Even for those who do incorporate, the bureaucratic drag is real. Arjun, a Shiv Nadar University student building a startup alongside a professor there, has qualified for grant money but hit a wall. AIC regulations require him to register with the DPIIT to receive funds. “Their registration requires a different type of digital signature. Doing that and the amount of time it takes, you don't even want to know about it,” he said.
A new playbook
A handful of newer institutions are attempting to re-engineer the model.
Gurugram-based Masters Union runs its incubation programme through a full-time team of former investors and operators rather than faculty—among them, former DSG Consumer Partners investor Saksham Kotiya, who heads entrepreneurship and investments.
The programme provides ₹50,000 a month to enrolled founders with no conditions attached, and extends placement access for up to two years, directly addressing the financial anxiety that pulls students back towards corporate jobs.
“You can't have PhD professors leading incubators. Because they've not built a company, or they've not been through the life cycle of a company. You need entrepreneurs, or you need venture capital folks to run the incubator for you,” said Pratham Mittal, founder of the college.
Bengaluru-based Scaler School of Technology runs its Innovation Labs for both students and outside founders. The school provides a ₹10 lakh non-dilutive grant and holds monthly reviews with student founders. “We push them to take their products to the market, build something with the enterprises around us, since we're in a tech park. We don't let them just sit with an idea,” said Vidit Jain, senior vice president and head of Scaler School.
Mint's emailed queries to the Atal Innovation Mission mission director Deepak Bagla, remained unanswered.
Money management
Private and independent universities have capital to deploy. The problem is where it goes and whether it's the right kind.
For Shailendra Jha of Invention Engine, a firm that works with university incubators to plug the mentoring gap, the structural issue is one of misallocation. Colleges have received significant government money—mandated infrastructure, seed funds, accelerator budgets—but lack the frameworks to deploy it meaningfully. “It's like that saying in Hindi, bandar ke haath me nariyal—that's what comes to mind.”
His prescription, like Mittal's, is straightforward: universities need to embrace the professor of practice model—hiring exited founders, operators, and investors as adjunct or full-time faculty, rather than recycling PhD-track academics into roles that require a fundamentally different skill set.
Ashoka has moved in this direction. Priyank Narayan, a former entrepreneur, runs the programme alongside a lean team of six, none of whom come from academia. “Unless it is something which is an integral part of your strategy and growth and mindset more than anything else, which was the case with us, I don't think this model works,” he said.