Rs 1 Lakh Crore Corpus For Long-Term Funding of R&D Projects Gets Thumbs-Up | Interim Budget

Industry insiders have welcomed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement of a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus with a 50-year interest-free loan for long-term financing research and innovation in sunrise domains.

Corpus fund, often referred to as an endowment fund or a capital fund, means a collection of funds reserved for a particular organisation or purpose.

The initiative aims to catalyze private sector participation in research and innovation across sunrise domains.

GAME-CHANGING MOVE

The 50-year interest-free loan provision is seen as a visionary step that will not only provide financial support, but also foster an environment conducive to long-term research and development initiatives.

Asish Saraf, VP and Country Director at Thales – India, hailed the budget’s research and innovation focus. “The allocation is a game-changer. This golden era for our tech-savvy youth will undoubtedly spur breakthroughs and drive progress.” Anirudh A Damani, Director at Artha India Ventures, said the will invigorate entrepreneurship in tier-2 and 3 towns. “The government’s move will not only facilitate capital accessibility, but also encourage deeper penetration by institutional investors in search of disruptive startups.”

Deepak NG, Managing Director at Dassault Systemes India, highlighted the far-reaching impact. “It will go a long way in creating a thriving ecosystem for technology startups in the country.” “From Startup India to Scale Up India to a Research First India, investing in research should become as cool as investing in startups,” said Rajan Navani, Chairman of CII’s India@75 Council.

Himanshu Jain, VP at Satellite Developers Private Limited, said: “It will create a huge demand for commercial properties and give a major boost to the startup business.”

“We commend the government’s allocation of the Rs 1 lakh crore corpus in the interim budget 2024 for long-term financing of technological research. This move will be beneficial for startups in the rapidly expanding space sector, providing them with support to innovate and conduct further research across various domains of space technology,” said Lt Gen AK Bhatt, director general of the Indian Space Association.