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Union Minister Piush Goyal, at the AI, Innovation & Entrepreneurship drive ‘Sangam 2025’ Annual Event of IIT Madras & IITM Alumni Association at Bengaluru, Karnataka, on July 5, 2025.
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Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday announced that the government has approved a second tranche of ₹10,000 crore under its flagship Fund of Funds, this time aimed specifically at bolstering India’s deep tech ecosystem. The move comes as part of a broader strategy to position India as a global hub for innovation and advanced technologies.
“This time around, it is largely going to support the deep tech ecosystem,” Goyal said, addressing a gathering of entrepreneurs, researchers and alumni at the annual event of IIT Madras and the IITM Alumni Association. “Our effort is that this money goes to promote innovation, absorption of newer technologies, and the development of new solutions in contemporary fields.”
The Minister added that the guidelines for this fund are being finalised and the intent is to channel capital in a way that supports not just start-ups but the entire technology pipeline — from research to commercialisation.
Tech grant
Goyal also spoke about the $12 billion (₹1 lakh crore) allocation to the Department of Science and Technology in the form of a 50-year, zero-interest loan. While technically a loan, he said the government views it as a quasi-grant that gives flexibility in terms of capital deployment.
“It is truly a grant, but the idea behind this was that it gives us more flexibility to provide equity support, grant support, low-cost support, and to roll that support as technologies get fine-tuned and become successful and then get some money back so that it goes to somebody else,” Goyal said. “It helps more and more technologies develop.”
Goyal underlined India’s cost advantage in developing cutting-edge technologies, claiming that product development here costs just one-sixth or one-seventh of what it would in the US or Europe. “When we work on new technologies in India, our cost is nearly one-sixth or one-seventh of what it would cost in Switzerland or America, the UK, or Europe,” he said.
‘Future ready’
Tying these initiatives to the government’s broader economic goals, Goyal said India is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2025 and the third-largest by 2027. The long-term goal, he noted, is to grow the Indian economy from $4 trillion today to $32 trillion by 2047, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a “Viksit Bharat.”
“When we all contribute in that journey — when we look upon this as our duty to contribute towards making India a developed Nation — truly that is when we can see the Indian economy grow from a $4 trillion economy today to a $32 trillion economy by 2047,” Goyal said.
“By the end of 2025, or possibly even earlier, we will be the fourth-largest GDP in the world. By 2027, we expect to be the third-largest, powered by the work that each one of you is doing,” he noted.
Highlighting India’s strengths in AI, machine learning, quantum computing and data analytics, the minister said current policies are focused on building a “future-ready” nation powered by technological innovation.
“Today, our policies are structured around a future-ready India — an India that absorbs technologiesaccepts newer ways of working, newer ways of living, and that is at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, computing and data analytics.”
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Published on July 5, 2025
