The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched a Startup Challenge to develop citizen-centric innovative solutions using blockchain and Web3 to support government use cases. The scheme offers financial incentives to blockchain and Web3 start ups and is intended to encourage development on permissioned blockchain infrastructure. Monetary values are expressed in million (mn) and thereafter use the abbreviation mn. The initiative was presented to the Rajya Sabha by the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.

The challenge is structured in four evaluation stages and provides graded support as teams progress from concept to deployment. In stage one selected teams move from ideation to proof of concept with up to 40 entries receiving Rs 0.15 mn each. In stage two shortlisted teams advance from proof of concept to minimum viable product with up to 30 entries supported with Rs 0.4 mn each. In stage three up to 20 shortlisted teams receive Rs 1 mn each to take their minimum viable product to deployment and stage four will select up to 10 winning teams to receive Rs 5 mn each to deploy pilot governance solutions.

Existing pilots illustrate potential government applications of blockchain technology. Judiciary Chain records judicial data and documents and has completed pilot implementation at the Supreme Court and the High Court of Karnataka for bail orders and judgement orders. The Aushada system tracks medicine supply chain in Karnataka and is deployed on the National Blockchain Framework infrastructure to record movement and quality check details. Praamaanik stores application origin details from app owners and allows citizens to verify authenticity through a security application and has onboarded 14 citizen-centric applications from a state electronics development corporation.

The ministry expects the challenge to foster scalable public sector solutions and incentivise start ups to align product development with governance needs. Support is intended to reduce barriers to pilot deployment and create precedent use cases that other states and central bodies can adapt. The programme emphasises permissioned blockchain for privacy and governance requirements and aims to accelerate citizen-centric services.