First tranche of research innovation fund to be spent by March

The Department of Science and Technology will spend its first tranche of ₹3,000 crore — out of the ₹1 lakh crore corpus of the Research Development and Innovation scheme — by March this yr, Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, mentioned on Monday (February 2, 2026).

The scheme anticipates investing in high-risk, high-impact research and the strengthening of linkages between laboratories, start-ups, and business. It was unveiled in February 2025. Although allotted ₹20,000 crore for the Financial Year 2025-26, the Department of Science and Technology has not been in a position to spend any of that corpus till January. The February 1 Union Budget allocation for the Ministry of Science and Technology, nevertheless, has a ₹20,000 crore allocation for FY 2026-27.

“The Research, Development, and Innovation fund will not directly invest in corporations or startups. It will invest through second-level fund managers, including alternate investment funds, development finance institutions. 193 such fund managers have applied, and we will be shortlisting and selecting out of it,” Mr. Karandikar mentioned.

“Currently, only two statutory bodies — the Technology Development Board (under the Department of Science and Technology) and the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (under the Department of Biotechnology) have been appointed as fund managers (via nomination). That is the reason we couldn’t spend the ₹20,000 crore. The ₹1 lakh crore needs to be deployed over seven years. We will spend ₹3,000 crore by March 31, 2026,” he added.

Mr. Singh mentioned that the provisions of the Budget had poised India to be a “manufacturing” economic system. The ₹10,000 crore Biopharma Shakti mission, over 5 years, will be unfold amongst a number of Ministries to develop organic supplies that will create new jobs and spur progress in fields as diverse as drug growth and carbon seize.