{"id":63543,"date":"2026-01-06T19:32:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=63543"},"modified":"2026-01-09T13:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T07:44:07","slug":"deep-tech-start-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-01-2026\/deep-tech-start-ups","title":{"rendered":"Government Eases Funding Norms to Boost Deep-Tech Start-ups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Union government relaxed norms for deep-tech start-ups to avail financial assistance from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Centre has removed the mandatory<strong> three-year <\/strong>viability criterion for deep-tech start-ups to avail financial assistance of up to <strong>\u20b91 crore<\/strong> from DSIR.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The funding support is provided under the<strong> Industrial Research and Development Promotion Programme (IRDPP).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DSIR functions under the <strong>Ministry of Science and Technology<\/strong> to promote industrial R&amp;D and innovation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Earlier Funding Norms:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Start-ups were eligible for DSIR support only after demonstrating sustainability and viability for <strong>at least three years.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This condition often excluded early-stage deep-tech innovators, who typically face long gestation periods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is deep technology?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deep tech refers to <strong>advanced and disruptive technologies<\/strong> that have the potential to trigger transformative change, and provide solutions for the future.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The term is used to describe <strong>cutting-edge research <\/strong>in nanotechnology, biotechnology, material sciences, quantum technologies, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, data sciences, robotics, 3D printing, etc.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of India\u2019s Deep-Tech Ambitions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Global Leadership:<\/strong> It positions India as a trusted R&amp;D hub in the &#8220;China+1&#8221; global landscape, leveraging its massive STEM talent pool to lead in frontier technologies like Quantum Computing and 6G.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Technological Sovereignty: <\/strong>Reduces critical reliance on foreign imports for national security, defense, and space, ensuring India isn&#8217;t vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Solving Local Challenges:<\/strong> Enables &#8220;India-first&#8221; solutions for massive social hurdles, such as AI for rural healthcare, precision agriculture for food security, and green hydrogen for energy independence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Value:<\/strong> A robust deep-tech ecosystem enables India to move up the global value chain, shifting from <strong>low-cost services and assembly-based manufacturing to high-value research,<\/strong> design and intellectual property creation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme Fund<\/strong><br>&#8211; The scheme has an outlay of <strong>Rs 1 lakh crore over 6 years<\/strong>, with Rs 20,000 crore allocated for FY 2025\u201326, funded from the Consolidated Fund of India.<br>&#8211; <strong>The Department of Science and Technology (DST)<\/strong> will serve as the nodal department for implementation of the RDI Scheme.<br>&#8211; <strong>Key objectives <\/strong>of the Scheme are as follows;<br>&#8211; <strong>Encourage the private<\/strong> sector to scale up research, development, and innovation (RDI) in sunrise domains and in other sectors relevant for economic security, strategic purpose, and self-reliance,<br>&#8211; Finance transformative projects at higher levels of<strong> Technology Readiness Levels (TRL),<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Support acquisition of technologies<\/strong> which are critical or of high strategic importance,<br>&#8211; Facilitate setting up of a <strong>Deep-Tech Fund of Funds.<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/centre-relaxes-norms-for-start-ups-to-avail-funds-from-dsir\/article70471860.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Union government relaxed norms for deep-tech start-ups to avail financial assistance from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Centre has removed the mandatory three-year viability criterion for deep-tech start-ups to avail financial assistance of up to \u20b91 crore from DSIR.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The funding support is provided under the Industrial Research and Development Promotion Programme (IRDPP).<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-01-2026\/deep-tech-start-ups\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63547,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63543\/revisions\/63547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}