Funds sought by banks to support cutting-edge enterprises

TLDR: The Indian government is considering involving financial institutions such as the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to fund its budget announcement of a INR 1 lakh crore (approximately $14 billion) corpus for research and innovation in high-tech sectors. The funds will be provided as long-term, concessional credit to private sector projects focused on developing cutting-edge technologies. The government aims to create an enabling ecosystem for these ventures and reduce the country’s reliance on imported technologies. The loans provided by the financial institutions may have zero interest and tenors of up to 50 years. The government is also considering an expert committee to decide on the allocation of funds to various projects over multiple years. The funding will help the private sector scale up research and innovation in sunrise sectors and could lead to the creation of jobs and the development of indigenous technologies.