BIRAC: the ₹4,200 crore+ government engine for Indian biotech startups

The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) — a Section 8 public-sector enterprise under the Department of Biotechnology, founded in 2012 — is the government's dedicated engine for biotech startups, supporting innovators across the full product-development cycle from ideation and incubation to translation, commercialisation and global competitiveness. It anchors national missions including the National Biopharma Mission and Grand Challenges India, and reports over ₹4,200 crore in funding support enabled since inception (Economic Times, March 2026).

Flagship support

The BIG (Biotechnology Ignition Grant) offers grant-in-aid up to ₹50 lakh for 18 months, taking ideas to proof-of-concept via 8 BIG Partners (BioNEST incubators). Beyond BIG: SBIRI and BIPP for early and advanced product development, PACE for academic research to enterprise, E-YUVA for students, the SEED Fund (equity up to ₹30 lakh), the LEAP Fund (equity up to ₹100 lakh), the AcE Fund (fund-of-funds), plus CRS and ETA schemes. The BioNEST network spans 100 bio-incubators with 10.45+ lakh sq ft of incubation space — labs, pilot facilities, instrumentation and regulatory guidance.

The ₹2,000 crore RDI mandate

In 2025 BIRAC was appointed a second-level fund manager under the national ₹1 trillion RDI framework (ANRF), deploying ₹2,000 crore over up to five years via equity, convertibles and long-term debt for technologies at TRL-4 to TRL-9. The first cohort — Fermbox Bio, Sea6 Energy, Revelations Biotech, 4baseCare and Telluris Biotech — averaged around ₹25 crore each, with three termsheets totalling ₹450+ crore signed.

Notable beneficiaries

GPS Renewables (BIG-funded, later raised ₹635 crore), Kritsnam Technologies, Haystack Analytics, Exobot Dynamics, Rymo Technologies, Translead Medtech and Torchit.

People

Chairman: Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale (Secretary, DBT). The Managing Director's chair has seen recent change — founders should check the current incumbent on birac.nic.in before formal outreach.

How to engage

Apply to schemes through calls for proposals on birac.nic.in; BIG applications go through the 8 BIG Partners. For the RDI fund, proposals were invited via biracrdif.org (Phase 1 deadline was 31 March 2026) — watch for the next window.