CIO Tech Outlook Team | Monday, 07 July 2025, 13:10 IST
Piyush Goyal, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, announced the rollout of the second tranche of Rs 10,000 crore under the government's 'Fund of Funds' initiative with a special focus on the deep technology ecosystem in India.
The fund will encourage all aspects of the technology life cycle, from early-stage research to commercialisation. This will be done by supporting technology adoption and packaging innovative products and services, while developing next generation solutions. The guidelines for the deployment of the funds will soon be finalised.
Goyal went on to discuss further financial support for technological development explaining that the Cabinet approved a Rs 1 lakh crore ($12 billion) zero interest, 50-year loan to the Department of Science and Technology. This long-term funding structure will provide funding flexibility in the form of equity and grants as well as low-cost financing that can evolve to match the maturity of the technologies.
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He pointed out India has a competitive cost advantage in tech development: producing new technologies in India could be six or seven times cheaper than in countries like Switzerland or the US. Using 'future-ready' thinking, Goyal highlighted how the government was allocating attention to artificial intelligence, machine learning, computing and data analytics to ensure that India competes favourably with new technologies.
On further notes, he referred to India's impressive economic pathway; for example, India has moved from the 11th largest economy to the 5th largest. Goyal argued that India will be the 4th largest economy at the end of 2025 and will be the 3rd largest economy by 2027, due in part to innovation-led growth in deep tech and digital transformation.
