IIT Mandi Catalyst

Building Himachal Pradesh’s first technology business incubator

I was the founding Faculty-in-charge and Director Incubation of IIT Mandi Catalyst from 2016 to 2023. I took charge in 2016, organised the CII–IIT Mandi Industry–Academia Conclave that launched Catalyst, registered it as a Section 8 company, and built its programmes, policies, team and funding base from scratch. In a hill state with no prior incubation infrastructure, Catalyst became the leading incubator of Himachal Pradesh.

Impact at a glance (2016–2023)

• 400+ startups supported through incubation and pre-incubation programmes

• ~₹70 crore raised for the incubator from central, state and institutional sources

• 200+ startups given financial support (grants and seed investment)

• 17 startups went on to raise further external funding; 1 exit with a 9× return

• 2,000+ jobs and internships created by supported startups

• 100+ national and international awards won by Catalyst startups

• IIT Mandi ranked 7th in ARIIA 2020 and in the national top 10 for innovation and entrepreneurship

Rankings and recognition

• 2024 · IIT Mandi ranked #8 in the NIRF Innovation ranking (Ministry of Education)

• 2024 · Himachal Pradesh named Best Performer (Category B) in DPIIT’s States’ Startup Ranking 2022, released January 2024

• 2023 · IIT Mandi ranked in NIRF-Innovation (ARIIA) 2023 (Ministry of Education)

• 2022 · Himachal Pradesh named Aspiring Leader (Category B) in DPIIT’s States’ Startup Ranking 2021, released July 2022

• 2020–21 · IIT Mandi ranked 7th in ARIIA 2020 and in the top 20 in ARIIA 2021

Funding raised

• NIDHI-TBI, DST (2016–21) — ₹4.67 crore, plus ₹3.03 crore from IIT Mandi

• NIDHI Seed Support System, DST (2019–23) — ₹10.5 crore

• NIDHI-PRAYAS, DST (2020–24) — ₹4.4 crore

• NIDHI-EIR, DST (2022–26) — ₹2 crore

• Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (2021–25) — ₹7 crore

• Him Startup Yojana, Government of Himachal Pradesh (2020–24) — ₹10.3 crore

• HP Chief Minister’s Startup Scheme, Government of Himachal Pradesh (2018–20) — ₹76 lakh

• TIDE 2.0, MeitY (2019–23) — ₹1.5 crore

• iHub, IIT Mandi (DST) (2021–25) — ₹25.6 crore

• HDFC Parivartan SmartUp Grant, HDFC Bank (2023) — ₹0.99 crore

What I built

• Programmes: designed the Exploration (pre-incubation) and Incubation programmes after studying leading incubators; ran 13 Exploration Program batches between 2017 and 2023.

• Flagship events: conceived and ran six editions of the Himalayan Startup Trek (2017–2022), each drawing 100–500 founders, investors and mentors, and the first Himalayan Innovation Challenge (2019).

• Institution building: wrote Catalyst’s operations handbook, incubation agreements and startup handbook; set up co-working, hostel and meeting spaces on campus and at the Mandav complex in Mandi town; hired and trained the team; handled legal, board and financial compliance.

• Campus ecosystem: involved 50–60 IIT Mandi faculty as mentors, selection panellists and co-advisors; supported the first faculty-led ventures; helped draft the IIT Mandi Entrepreneurship Policy (2019); co-designed the course HS510 Essentials of Entrepreneurship.

• Regional impact: 30–40% of supported startups came from Himachal Pradesh; Catalyst disbursed or committed over ₹10 crore to startups and focused on Himalayan challenges such as disaster management, clean energy, road safety, livelihoods, agriculture and waste management.

My reflections on this journey are captured in the talk and essay “Effectuating an Incubator in an Impossible Geography”.

Recognised with IIT Mandi’s Foundation Day Award (2018) for “significant and effective contribution in setting up Catalyst, IIT Mandi’s TBI”.