India, July 2 -- More than a year after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman first announced a fund to spur research and development (R&D) in the sunrise sectors, the Union cabinet has approved the research development and innovation (RDI) scheme with a corpus of INR 1 Lakh Cr.

The INR 1 Lakh Cr outlay will also include the deeptech fund of funds (FoF) announced by Sitharaman in her Budget 2025-26 speech in February this year. This is the first time that the Centre has explicitly highlighted that the FoF will be part of the broader INR 1 Lakh Cr "Anusandhan" initiative.

In a statement, the government said that the RDI scheme will provide long-term financing, or refinancing, with long tenors at low or nil interest rates to spur private se...