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At the monthly joint review of Science Secretaries chaired by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, officials reported that disbursal of Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund money to some selected firms is complete and the rest will follow shortly.
The Minister said the RDI Fund's conflict-of-interest policy is protected by stringent safeguards to protect both taxpayers' money and private capital, and invited stakeholder suggestions for further safeguards.
Selection and announcement of Second-Level Fund Managers (SLFMs), who will identify companies and route investments under the fund, is expected to be completed in about two weeks.
Inter-ministerial consultations and an expert committee have recommended widening the fund's sectoral scope beyond the initially proposed list, to cover strategic technology needs and fast-changing fields such as artificial intelligence.
The review also covered Sah-SANKALP - 56 of its 60 featured technologies deployed at the grassroots and 41 at Technology Readiness Level 8 or 9 - and preparations for ESTIC 2026 (27-29 October, Bharat Mandapam) and the Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar campaign across 111 beaches.
The RDI Scheme does not hand money to companies from a ministry counter. It uses two levels. At the first level sits a Special Purpose Fund (SPF) inside the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, which acts as the custodian of the corpus. The SPF then allocates money to Second-Level Fund Managers, who actually appraise and finance R&D projects - normally as long-tenor loans at low or nil interest, and as equity in the case of startups. Contribution to a Deep-Tech Fund of Funds is also permitted. The design is deliberate: private R&D in India has been held back less by the absence of ideas than by the absence of patient, cheap, long-duration capital, which commercial lenders will not supply for research whose payoff is distant and uncertain. Because the money is public but the managers are financial intermediaries, conflict-of-interest rules and disbursal protocols become the core governance question - which is exactly what this review meeting was about.
Simple Analogy: The Special Purpose Fund is the reservoir; the second-level fund managers are the canals that decide which fields actually get watered.
Spur private-sector investment in research, development and innovation in strategic and sunrise sectors through long-term, low-cost financing
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 1 July 2025 with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore; two-tier structure of a Special Purpose Fund in ANRF feeding second-level fund managers; the Department of Science and Technology is the nodal department
Seed, grow and promote research and development and foster a research culture across universities, colleges and research institutions
Key: Set up under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023, which repealed the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008 and dissolved SERB; estimated cost Rs 50,000 crore over 2023-28; its Governing Board is chaired by the Prime Minister and met for the first time on 10 September 2024
Provide early-stage capital to deep-tech startups in fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and semiconductors
Key: A Rs 10,000 crore fund announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, deployed through SEBI-registered Alternative Investment Funds; the RDI Scheme permits contributions to it
Showcase and push out technologies developed through government-supported scientific research
Key: A resource book of 60 technologies; as reported at this review, 56 are deployed at grassroots level, 41 have reached Technology Readiness Level 8 or 9, and enterprises have shown interest in adopting 38
Bring academia, research institutions, industry and government together on emerging technologies
Key: A DST flagship annual conclave whose first edition was held from 3 to 5 November 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on the theme 'Viksit Bharat 2047'; the 2026 edition is scheduled for 27-29 October at the same venue
Clean India's coasts and cut marine litter through mass participation
Key: A coastal cleanliness campaign begun in 2022 as a 75-day inter-ministerial drive and since run annually around International Coastal Cleanup Day; the 2026 edition reviewed here runs 12-19 September across 111 identified beaches
Provides overarching strategic direction to the RDI Scheme
Approves the scheme's guidelines and recommends second-level fund managers and the scope and type of projects in sunrise sectors
Approves changes to the scheme, the sectors and project types and the second-level fund managers, and reviews the scheme's performance
Nodal department for implementing the RDI Scheme
Finances the commercialisation of indigenous technology and the adaptation of imported technology for wider application
India's largest publicly funded R&D organisation, whose laboratories supply many of the technologies showcased under Sah-SANKALP
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023 is enacted, repealing the SERB Act, 2008 and creating ANRF with an estimated Rs 50,000 crore for 2023-28
The first meeting of the ANRF Governing Board, chaired by the Prime Minister, is held
A Rs 10,000 crore Deep Tech Fund of Funds is announced for deep-tech startups
The Union Cabinet approves the Research Development and Innovation Scheme with a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus, with DST as nodal department
The first Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) is held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi
Review meeting reports first-round assessment complete, disbursals begun for some selected firms, second-level fund managers due in about two weeks and the sectoral scope set to widen
The 2023 Act dissolved the Science and Engineering Research Board and folded its work into ANRF; the RDI Fund now sits inside that same institution as a Special Purpose Fund
The RDI Scheme, the Deep Tech Fund of Funds and the Fund of Funds for Startups all address the same gap - long-duration risk capital for ventures banks will not lend to
The Sah-SANKALP review used TRL 8-9 as the marker of deployment readiness, a scale worth knowing because it recurs in defence and space procurement discussions
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Indigenisation, Research Funding and the Innovation Ecosystem
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Science Policy
General Awareness > Government Funds and Financing Mechanisms
Research funding institutions and flagship S&T schemes appear every year in Prelims and in GS3
Research Development and Innovation Scheme, approved on 1 July 2025 with a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus to finance private-sector R&D in strategic and sunrise sectors
The first-level fund housed within ANRF that acts as custodian of the RDI corpus and allocates money to second-level fund managers
The intermediary that identifies eligible companies and finances their R&D projects, normally through long-tenor low or nil interest loans, and equity in the case of startups
Gross Expenditure on Research and Development - India's stood at about 0.64 per cent of GDP in 2020-21
A scale rating how close a technology is to deployment; TRL 8-9 indicates a proven, deployment-ready system