Even though the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had promised that there would be no big announcements in the vote-on-account, she seems to have made an exception for slipping in a few incentives to encourage research and development in the private sector.
This comprised a new scheme “for strengthening deep tech technologies for defense purposes.” and setting up another fund for private sector R&D.
While it was not clear what she meant by deep tech technology, the fact that she linked it to self sufficiency in the defence sector indicates that it is related to the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing to enhance India’s defense capabilities.
The Rs 1 Lakh crore fund however was for all sectors.
“A corpus of 1 lakh crore rupees will be established with a 50 year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long term financing or refinancing with long tenures and low or nil interest rates,” she said.
Sitharaman added that this measure will help in stepping up research and innovation facilitating the progress of the country.
“This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains,’ she said.
Such schemes will help the country tap the potential of a large number of young people by training them to handle the new technological innovations, the minister said.
“For our tech savvy youth this will be a golden era…We need to have programs that combine the powers of our youth and technology,” she said.
Nirmala Sitharaman also stressed on the government’s plan to focus more on research and development.
“Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Sastri gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, PM Atal Bihari Vajpay made that ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan and Jai vigyan’, PM Modi has furthered that to Jai Anusandhan,” Sitharaman said adding that the government believes that “innovation is the foundation of development.”