₹1L-crore R&D push for private sector unveiled

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared a scheme with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore to channel funding to the private sector for accelerating research, development, and innovation in sunrise and strategic sectors in the country.

- Sejal Sharma

The Research Development and Innovation (RDI) scheme, shaped through wide consultations with industry experts, will provide long-term financing or refinancing at low or interestfree rates. It will back projects that have moved beyond earlystage research and reached the prototype stage, said Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at a press briefing on the cabinet's decisions.

"When a company moves beyond the prototype stage, it often faces the 'valley of death," a critical phase where many innovations fail due to lack of support," said Vaishnaw. "This is exactly when timely assistance is needed to turn a promising prototype into a viable product." The scheme will target sunrise sectors such as clean energy, climate tech, deep tech (quantum applications, robotics, space teach), AI in key areas, biotech, digital agriculture, and also support acquisition of technologies required for strategic reasons, economic security, selfreliance or public interest.

"Countries that invest heavily in R&D see long-term gains in productivity and technological advancement across industries," said Vaishnaw.