RDI Fund: BIRAC gets 200 applications in first call for proposals

BIRAC has received nearly 200 applications under the RDI fund and shortlisted 7-8 biotech startups as demand rises for deep-tech and innovation financing

Focused research organisation Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has received nearly 200 applications after it announced the first call for proposals under the Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) fund in February this year. Out of these applications, it has so far selected seven to eight biotech startups to invest in, said the firm’s managing director Jitendra Kumar.

 

“We received 200 applications in the first call. The screening and selection process is ongoing. We have already selected some 7-8 companies and hope to announce their names as soon as the term sheets are finalised,” Kumar said.

 

For selecting the companies, BIRAC set up an investment committee composed of six to eight members from industry and the investment community. Kumar shared that based on the analysed proposals, the financial requirement for companies is emerging in the range of Rs 25-150 crore. He mentioned that the firm can support projects with financial assistance of up to Rs 250 crore.

 

 

Speaking about the work areas of the companies that applied, Kumar said the majority of startups are working in healthcare, including medical devices, new drugs and therapies, followed by bioenergy and agriculture.

 

Kumar added that the firm has so far screened nearly 50 applications out of the total. It is likely to select a total of 20-25 startups out of the 200 applications, and announce another call for proposals in June this year.

 

“So far, we have screened only about 50 applications. So, 150 more are remaining. We think many more companies would qualify for this. So, we expect that around 20-25 companies can actually consume Rs 2,000 crore if they take an average of Rs 75-100 crore,” Kumar said.

 

Notably, BIRAC, along with the Technology Development Board, is one of two organisations the government nominated as second-level fund managers for the proposed fund worth Rs 1 trillion. The fund, which aims to focus on areas including energy security and transition, quantum computing, robotics, space, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI), was launched last year.

 

Of this total amount, BIRAC has received Rs 2,000 crore as an initial allocation from the first-level custodian, the Special Purpose Fund, which is being set up under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation.

 

The RDI fund provides financing of up to 50 per cent of the total assessed project cost, while the project proponent must meet the remaining cost through self-financing or commercial sources. Kumar said that among the selected companies, some had already secured investments from private investors, while others have sought a conditional term letter from the organisation.

 

For eligibility, startups and companies must be headquartered in India with majority domestic ownership. The fund supports projects with Technology Readiness Level 4 and above, largely including entities that have moved beyond ideation and theory.

 

In Budget 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman topped up the fund with a Rs 20,000 crore allocation, similar to last year’s budgetary allocation.