Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a post-budget press conference, in New Delhi
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to kick start private sector-driven research and development by allocating Rs 20,000 crore for a new programme, besides announcing a deep tech fund of funds and a Centre of Excellence in artificial intelligence for education.
Rs 20,000 crore is the first instalment for a Rs 1 lakh crore programme that Sitharaman announced in her last Budget speech in July.
“To implement the private sector driven research, development and innovation initiative announced in the July Budget, I am now allocating Rs 20,000 crore. A deep tech fund of funds will also be explored to catalyse the next generation startups as a part of this initiative,” she said.
In the next five years, under the PM Research Fellowship scheme, the government will provide 10,000 fellowships for technological research in Indian Institutes of Technologies and Indian Institute of Sciences, Bengaluru with enhanced financial support.
With the Department of Science and Technology being the nodal ministry driving this fund, its budgetary allocation ballooned to more than Rs 28,500 crore from over Rs 8,000 crore last year.
The allocation would be a major boost to support research and development in the private sector in deep tech and sunrise sectors, said Abhay Karandikar, secretary in the Department of Science and Technology.
The boost for the private sector R&D comes a day after the Economic Survey flagged concerns over the private firms' disinterest to spend on research and development.
Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said the private sector's expenditure on research and development was very low despite a lot of incentive schemes provided by the government.
Sitharaman also announced a second gene bank with 10 lakh germplasm, a Rs 100 crore National Geospatial Mission to develop foundational geospatial infrastructure and data, a move aimed at modernising land records, aid urban planning and promoting earth observation systems.
With enhanced allocation for biotechnology research, innovation and entrepreneurship development scheme, the Department of Biology witnessed more than Rs 1,000 crore rise in its allocation. The Ministry of Earth Sciences implementing Mission Mausam also received an additional funding support of over Rs 600 crore.
Allocations for most of the other science ministries remained marginal, but surprisingly the Department of Atomic Energy’s allocation dropped by 3.7 per cent.
Union Budget 2025 | Nirmala Sitharaman, as Finance Minister, presented her record 8th Union Budget this time. While inflation has burnt a hole in the pockets of 'aam janata', the Modi govt gave income tax relief for those making up to Rs 12 lakh per year in salaried income. Track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analysis only on Deccan Herald. Also follow us on WhatsApp, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.