Call For Proposal

India has entered a decisive decade for its urbanization and infrastructure future – wastewater management and sanitation lies at its core. Treatment and management of human waste carrying harmful pathogens represents one of the most critical barriers to achieving a 'Viksit Bharat' through public health and environmental improvements. The exponential increase in wastewater generation poses threat to India's development trajectory, demanding nothing short of a disruptive technological revolution. There are many global strategies for wastewater management and solid waste management. However, one waste stream that is not adequately managed in developing countries is faecal sludge (FS) — the by-product of on-site sanitation systems (OSS). In India,  Faecal Sludge and Septage management (FSSM) consists of existing OSS systems which are a central component, especially in areas lacking underground sewage networks. The (OSS) systems accumulate and store faecal matter over years, as opposed to sewer systems, which allow the continuous transport of faecal matter with used water. Once the OSS storage is full, the waste is emptied and transported to the treatment plant through vacuum trucks. The FSSM ecosystem faces several challenges at different stages of containment, transport, treatment, and disposal/reuse of waste. These includes poorly designed, constructed, or maintained septic tanks and soak pits that leads to overflows of sludge and contamination of surface water and groundwater. Moreover, the citizens are unaware of the details of their septic tanks, like sludge volume, and are unable to provide adequate information for on time and efficient desludging. This lack of awareness also leads to tank blockages and/or overflowing. The above stated issues thus necessitate the need of development of off-grid/ on-site desludging solutions for treatment of waste at source, eliminating the issue of sludge storage, transportation, overflow and the problem of groundwater contamination. The Transformative Sanitation Technologies (TST) represent a breakthrough in decentralized sanitation technologies by offering a safe, hygienic, and sustainable way to treat waste at source without the requirement of sewer infrastructure, and with minimal use of water and promote recycling of treated water. Designed to operate entirely off-grid, TSTs treat human waste onsite.

With millions relying on unsafe sanitation systems such as sub-optimally designed and implemented septic tanks and pit toilets under water stress environment, and climate vulnerabilities in urban and rural areas, the TST call aims to fill a critical gap by enabling safely managed new generation toilets for both household and community use in India. The current call on is aimed at development of innovative decentralized sanitation technologies that are designed to operate off-grid, treating waste onsite without requirement of sewer infrastructure and with minimal use of water along with provision of recycling of treated water, which can be deployed in both household and community settings. These systems can support not only urban high-end consumers but also low-resource environments like underserved urban slums, rural and remote areas and emergency settings such as disaster relief camps.

The India TST call thus aims to identify, support, and scale a new generation of indigenous sanitation technologies solutions that are off-grid & decentralized, ensures pathogen-free waste, meets environmental norms, low on water usage, promotes recycling, cost effective, regulation-ready, and built for the realities of India’s diverse contexts. The challenge sparks a powerful opportunity to develop a new generation of Transformative Sanitation Technologies (TSTs), by catalysing the development and piloting of working models of advanced, decentralized wastewater management and toilet technologies. The goal is not just to improve toilets, but to embed them in India’s broader development vision and reimagine them as closed-loop, resource-recovering, digitally enabled systems that tackle water stress, environmental degradation, and public health risks simultaneously. Thus, the need is two-fold: to build a pipeline of novel, economically sound, and robust TSTs, and to ensure they are designed for mass diffusion and last-mile deployment. By supporting innovators through funding, technical handholding, and deployment pathways, the TST Challenge will help create market-ready, regulation-compliant, and relevant products for the Indian ecosystem and beyond.

This RFP is India-led; the program is open to nonprofit organizations (society, trust and foundation), for-profit companies (including start-ups), government agencies and academic and research institutions. Project cost will be sanctioned to researchers and innovators who are Indian individuals or Indian entities*, we also encourage partnerships with researchers of national/international expertise, subject to the call guidelines.

Note: Please read the following carefully to understand the category you will be applyingunder and the documentation that may be requested should your proposal be selected forfurther financial due diligence. This call is open to:
• Companies: Companies incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 2013 having a minimum of 51% Indian ownership.
• Limited Liability Partnership: Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) incorporated under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 having a minimum half of the persons who subscribed their names to the LLP document as its Partners should be Indian citizens.
• Indian institution/ universities/ public research organization: Academic institutions established in India and having NAAC/ UGC/ AICTE or any equivalent recognition certificate or any other Public/Government supported organization. Universities, academic
institutions, and S&T institutions with any industry partner will be preferred.
• Society/ Trust/ NGO/ Foundation/ Association: Society/ Trust/ NGO/ Foundation/Association established in India under the relevant Indian Law having at least half of thestakeholders (partners/ trustees/ members/ associates etc.) as Indians. Industry
partnership will be preferred.

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1. Proposals in the correct format should be submitted through online portal on the BIRAC's website https://www.birac.nic.in and follow the link on the flyer (on the home page), for Registration, Request for Proposal (RFP) document and Submission portal.
2. Click on the ‘CALL FOR PROPOSALS section on top of Home Page’ and then ‘Current Calls’ tab in order to view the call detailed description.
3. Click on the active call under subject-line ‘India Transformative Sanitation Technologies (TST) Challenge to submit your proposal.

If you are applying to a BIRAC/GCI scheme for the first time, please note that you will have to register on the portal. The verification and activation of your new account may take up to 24 hours before you can apply for the scheme. Please take this into account while applying

Call opens- 25th August 2025
Call closes – 10th October 2025

Announcement Date: 25-08-2025
Last Submission Date: 10-10-2025