Jai Anusandhan Gets A Leg-Up
By Ashwini Agarwal
First publised on 2024-02-04 08:22:18
About the Author
Technology-based innovation has been the main driver of growth in sunrise sectors in India and has given birth to innumerable start-ups many of which have attained unicorn status. Patents have also shown a significant growth. But with the pool of talent available in India, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many tech-savvy youngsters who are pegged back for lack of funds. The Finance Minister has announced a new fund with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh cr in the interim budget that will provide interest-free or very low-interest loans for 50 years for research and innovation in deep tech for "defence purposes and Atmanirbharta". The finance minister said that "a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loan provided. The corpus will provide long-term financing or re-financing with long tenors and low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains".
The need for research and innovation cannot be understated in any domain. It is more so in deep tech as the field is vast and unexplored. But it is a time-consuming and costly affair which sometimes yields no positive or path-breaking result. Hence, researchers cannot afford to pay interest on the capital they borrow. Keeping this in mind, the corpus will provide interest-free or very low interest loans for periods up to 50 years. This will be a shot in the arm for those companies that are in the business of research in deep tech to come out with innovative products.
With Prime Minister Modi adding Jai Anusandhan to Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan (the first two were coined by Lal Bahadur Shashtri and the third was added by Atal Bihari Vajpayee), it was time that the government supported research and innovation in a big way. The corpus announced in the interim budget is a welcome step in that direction.
