Entrepreneur Support Scheme ESS

What you get

• 15% of fixed capital investment, up to ₹30 lakh, for general applicants
• 25% of fixed capital investment, up to ₹40 lakh, for young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 45, women, SC and ST entrepreneurs and non-resident Keralites
• An extra 10%, up to ₹10 lakh each, for priority sectors, for units in Idukki, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Pathanamthitta, and for new technology from approved research institutions
• Total assistance is capped at ₹40 lakh per enterprise, and the subsidy runs from 15% to 45% depending on category, sector and district
• Start-up support of 50% of the eligible amount, up to ₹3 lakh, can be paid when a term loan is sanctioned, with the balance claimed after production starts
• Expansion, modernisation and diversification investments also qualify
• Priority sectors are rubber based, agro and food processing, readymade garments, equipment for non-conventional energy, biotechnology, 100% export units, biodegradable plastics, plastic waste recycling, bio-fertiliser, and pharmaceutical and healthcare products

Who can apply

• Open to businesses in manufacturing and food processing.
• Micro, small and medium enterprises.
• The most on offer is ₹40 lakh.
• Udyam registration is needed. It is free.
• Manufacturing units only. Service enterprises are on the negative list
• A bank loan is not needed for investment support, but start-up support needs a term loan from a financial institution
• Apply for investment support within one year of starting commercial production
• Apply for technology support within 6 months of starting, after the technology is installed
• The unit must keep working for five years after starting or after expansion
• Negative list includes photo studios, tailoring other than readymade garments, breweries and distilleries, saw mills, metal crushers and granite units, steel re-rolling mills, cement units other than fly ash based, and power intensive units
• 30% of the funds are kept for micro enterprises

How to apply

1. Register and apply on the ESS portal with the documents in the checklist
2. For start-up support, apply once the term loan is sanctioned. The General Manager of the District Industries Centre sanctions it
3. For investment support, apply within one year of starting production. A district committee chaired by the District Collector sanctions it
4. Appeals go to a state level committee chaired by the Director of Industries and Commerce

In person, District Industries Centre for help with the application

In Kerala, District Industries Centre and Taluk Industries Office, applied for online

Head office

Documents to keep ready

• Signed application form, signed by all partners for a firm
• Online filing acknowledgement and fee receipt
• Identity proof of the promoters attested by a Gazetted Officer, showing date of birth for the youth category
• Resolution to apply, if the unit is not a proprietorship
• Udyam registration (the 2012 checklist still says EM acknowledgement)
• Caste certificate attested by a Gazetted Officer, for SC and ST applicants
• Self attested project report
• For start-up support, the project report attested by the lender, the lender's recommendation letter and the term loan sanction letter
• For investment support, partnership deed or company papers, audited balance sheet with fixed capital details, local body licence, sales bills, KSEB consumer card and last electricity bill
• For investment support, land documents with fair value, building plan and engineer's valuation, and machinery and electrical invoices with proof of payment and engineer's certificates where needed

Where applications get stuck

• Appeal to the State Level Committee chaired by the Director of Industries and Commerce

Figures you may see elsewhere

Application fee is ₹1,100 on the English page and ₹1,105 on the Malayalam page

Worth knowing

Both the English and Malayalam pages were current in 2026 (Malayalam page dated 9 February 2026) and the portal is linked. The January 2026 budget earmarked ₹110 crore and said ₹203.56 crore had gone to 3,431 entrepreneurs in four years. No change after May 2026 was found.

Where we found this

• Entrepreneur Support Scheme, Directorate of Industries and Commerce (external site) Official
• സംരംഭക സഹായ പദ്ധതി, Malayalam page (external site) Official
• ESS guidelines with checklist, 2012 (external site) Official
• ESS amendment orders 2020 to 2021 (external site) Official
• Budget Speech 2026-27, 29 January 2026, paragraph 327 (external site) Official announcement

An independent guide by The Company of Four, not a government website. Schemes change often, so check every detail on the official website before you apply. Links marked ↗ open external websites that we do not run, and we are not responsible for their content. Seen something out of date? Tell us and we will look into it.

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