NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Scheme for both high-risk and high-impact projects, marking a significant shift in India’s research sector.
He also announced providing 10,000 new Prime Minister's Research fellowships over five years and setting up 25,000 additional Atal Tinkering Labs, adding to the existing 10,000 labs. It will benefit around one crore children across the country.
The announcements came during his address at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) 2025 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
He began his address by congratulating the Indian women's cricket team on their historic ICC Women's World Cup 2025 victory. He also lauded ISRO scientists for successfully launching India's heaviest communication satellite on Sunday and extended his heartfelt congratulations to all scientists involved in the mission, as well as to ISRO.
The Prime Minister highlighted that hundreds of new universities have been established in recent years, including seven new IITs and sixteen IIITs.
He added that under the new education policy, it has been ensured that students can now pursue STEM courses such as science and engineering in their local languages. The Prime Minister underlined that India made significant strides in the world of science and technology.
He noted that in the 21st century, there was a pressing need for global experts to come together and deliberated on emerging science, technology, and innovation to provide direction.
PM Modi remarked that the global order is witnessing a new shift, and the pace of change is not linear but exponential. With this perspective, India is advancing various aspects related to emerging science, technology and innovation, maintaining a consistent focus on them.
He stated that R&D expenditure has doubled in the last decade, while patent registrations have surged 17 times.
“India is no longer a consumer of technology, but has become a pioneer of transformation through technology,” PM Modi said, citing the country's COVID-19 vaccine development as an example.
He pointed out that India now has the world's third-largest startup ecosystem with over 6,000 deep-tech startups. He also emphasised that the bio-economy has exploded from $10 billion in 2014 to around $140 billion today.
Citing an encounter with a developed nation's Science and Technology Minister whom the Prime Minister met in an elevator, he said that the minister asked: “Do girls in India pursue science and technology?”
He noted that women now constitute 43 per cent of STEM enrollments in India, exceeding the global average, and annual patent filings by women have jumped from fewer than 100 a decade ago to over 5,000.
Announcing that India will host the Global AI Summit in February 2026, Modi said the country is shaping a global framework for ethical and human-centric AI, with over Rs 10,000 crore being invested under the India AI Mission.
“I am confident that all of you, people associated with the world of Science and Technology, will go beyond questions and discover new possibilities,” he concluded.
In the end he invoked: “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan.”
