NEW DELHI, Dec. 9 -- The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has cleared two fund managers and is close to shortlisting two more to operationalize the Centre's Rs.1 trillion research, development and innovation (RDI) incentivization scheme, three senior officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The approvals mark the first concrete step toward rolling out the scheme, announced earlier this year and cleared by the Union cabinet in July, to strengthen domestic deep-tech research and development (R&D).

With the fund-management structure taking shape, the first tranche of applications from startups under the RDI scheme is expected to open by March 2026 across sectors including industrial electronics, semiconductors and quan...