Cabinet okays Research Development and Innovation scheme with Rs 1 Lakh crore corpus

The Union Cabinet Tuesday approved the Research Development and Innovation Scheme with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore to scale up research, development, and innovation in strategic and sunrise domains, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a press briefing.

“This transformative step is expected to bolster India’s research and innovation ecosystem, promoting self-reliance and global competitiveness,” he said.

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Highlighting the key objectives of the scheme, the Minister said: “The scheme aims to provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenors at low or nil interest rates to spur private sector investment in RDI.”

The scheme, he said, will finance transformative projects at higher levels of Technology Readiness Levels and support acquisition of critical technologies.

Reasserting that the scheme will facilitate setting up of Deep-Tech Fund of Funds, Vaishnaw said: “The scheme will facilitate setting up of a Deep-Tech Fund of Funds to support innovation and entrepreneurship in strategic and sunrise sectors.”

As regards its implementation and governance the Governing Board of Anusandhan National Research Foundation chaired by the Prime Minister will provide overarching strategic direction to the RDI Scheme.

The Minister asserted that the Department of Science and Technology will serve as the nodal department for implementation of the RDI Scheme.

The scheme will have a two-tiered funding mechanism, with a Special Purpose Fund established within ANRF and second-level fund managers providing long-term concessional loans to R&D projects.

The RDI Scheme is expected to foster self-reliance and global competitiveness, facilitating a conducive innovation ecosystem for the country as it marches towards Viksit Bharat at 2047.

A cabinet release issued later underlined that by addressing the critical need of the private sector for long-term, affordable financing, the scheme will promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.