{"id":64840,"date":"2026-01-19T13:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T13:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/rdi-funding-for-industry-backed-projects-to-begin-by-end-of-january-govt\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T13:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T13:05:59","slug":"rdi-funding-for-industry-backed-projects-to-begin-by-end-of-january-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/rdi-funding-for-industry-backed-projects-to-begin-by-end-of-january-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"RDI funding for industry-backed projects to begin by end of January: Govt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government will begin disbursing Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) funding for industry-backed projects by the end of this month<\/strong>, with the scheme having entered the execution phase, officials said on Monday.<\/p>\n

The update was shared during a review meeting of the RDI Fund scheme<\/strong> chaired by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Jitendra Singh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The RDI scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet on July 1 last year<\/strong>, was formally rolled out on November 3, 2025<\/strong>, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/strong> launched its implementation guidelines, issued the notice inviting applications, and unveiled a dedicated digital portal. The scheme aims to support high-risk, high-impact research<\/strong> while strengthening linkages between research laboratories, startups and industry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Department of Science and Technology (DST)<\/strong> has approved the Technology Development Board (TDB)<\/strong> and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)<\/strong> as the first Second-Level Fund Managers (SLFMs)<\/strong> under the \u20b91 lakh crore RDI Fund<\/strong>, a flagship initiative designed to catalyse private sector-led research and innovation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Under the approved framework, TDB<\/strong> will manage projects across all sunrise and strategic sectors<\/strong>, while BIRAC<\/strong> will oversee funding for biotechnology and allied areas<\/strong>. Both organisations are expected to issue their first calls for project proposals by the end of January 2026<\/strong>, enabling early deployment of RDI funds to innovation-driven ventures that have crossed Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Officials informed the Minister that the Empowered Group of Secretaries<\/strong>, in its meeting held on January 12<\/strong>, approved BIRAC and TDB as SLFMs in line with the decision of the Executive Council of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)<\/strong>. Each organisation will receive an initial allocation of \u20b92,000 crore in the first quarter<\/strong>, taking the total initial disbursement under the scheme to \u20b94,000 crore<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The government has also invited applications from other potential Second-Level Fund Managers, including Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)<\/strong> and Focused Research Organisations (FROs)<\/strong>. The last date for receiving applications is January 31, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

During the review, Dr. Jitendra Singh stressed the importance of timely execution<\/strong> and close coordination among science departments<\/strong>, underlining that public investment in research must result in measurable outcomes for industry and society<\/strong>. He also reviewed steps taken to streamline procedures, including revisions to implementation guidelines based on stakeholder feedback, to ensure transparency and ease of participation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Minister reiterated that strengthening private sector participation in research and development<\/strong> remains a core objective of the RDI framework. He said the scheme is focused on translational research<\/strong>, enabling scientific outputs from public research institutions to move more effectively towards commercial and societal applications<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by Secretaries and senior officials<\/strong> from various science ministries and departments. Proceedings began with welcome remarks by Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Prof. Ajay K. Sood<\/strong>, followed by opening remarks from the Minister.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government will begin disbursing Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) funding for industry-backed projects by the end of this month, with the scheme having entered the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64840","post","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}