One lakh crore corpus announced for Deep Tech in Budget 2024-25

New Delhi: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced a corpus of Rs one lakh crore for Deep Tech for long term loan to tech-savvy youth and companies. The budgetary allocation to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also been increased to Rs 23,855 crore in FY 2024-25 from Rs 23,263.89 crore in FY 2023-24.

Of this allocation, a major share of Rs 13,208 crore is allocated for capital expenditure. This will financially strengthen the DRDO in developing new technology with special focus on fundamental research and hand-holding the private parties through Development-cum-production partner.

Allocation to Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme stands out to be Rs 60 crore which is especially designed for new start-ups, MSMEs and academia attracting the young bright minds interested in innovation and developing niche technology in the field of defence in collaboration with the DRDO.

The Defence ministry in a statement said, the announcement regarding a Rs one lakh crore corpus for Deep Tech for long term loan to tech-savvy youth/companies and the tax advantage to the start-ups will give further impetus to innovation in the defence sector.

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