Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Scheme at the ESTIC 2025 conclave, establishing a structured financing mechanism designed to transition India’s research economy from government-dominated funding to private sector-led innovation, according to a notification on the Department of Science and Technology’s official website and reporting by The NFA Post.
The fund operates under the aegis of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, which was established to scale up research in Indian universities and institutions. It employs a two-tier disbursement structure: the Research, Development and Innovation Fund acts as a first-tier custodian of the ₹1 lakh crore corpus, while second-level fund managers — including Alternative Investment Funds and Development Finance Institutions — are appointed to provide long-term, low-interest loans or equity to qualifying startups and companies, according to the RDI Fund’s official website and the Technology Development Board’s published documentation.
Targeted Sectors and Eligibility
The fund is targeted at what official documentation describes as “high-risk, high-impact” projects at Technology Readiness Levels 4 and above — meaning projects that have passed basic proof-of-concept and are approaching or at prototype stage. Priority sectors include deep-tech applications such as quantum computing, robotics, and advanced materials; energy and climate technologies including green hydrogen, next-generation solar cells, and Small Modular Reactors; biotechnology encompassing biomanufacturing and vaccine development; and digital infrastructure including AI in health and education and 6G telecom development, according to the DST notification and BIRAC-RDIF documentation.
The fund finances up to 50% of the total assessed project cost, with the remaining capital required to be sourced through self-financing or commercial channels, according to the official RDI Fund website. The first round of screening and evaluation began in early 2026, according to the research documents. The government’s stated goal is to position India as a global innovation leader by 2047, aligned with the Viksit Bharat framework. The fund’s deployment timelines, disbursement progress to date, and the criteria for fund manager selection have not been confirmed through primary documentation available for this article; details on these aspects are drawn from government-attributed sources in the research compilation.
