Deeptech backers urge clearer governance for India’s ₹1 lakh crore RDI fund

India’s deeptech ecosystem has been steadily broadening—from hardware and advanced manufacturing to AI, climate-tech and space-tech. In this context, the government’s deeptech-focused ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund has been viewed as a potentially catalytic step for translating scientific capability into scalable products.

However, as discussions around the fund gather pace, a section of deeptech investors and ecosystem participants are voicing a consistent ask: stronger transparency and independent oversight so that the initiative is trusted, predictable and effective across cycles.

A high-potential fund—and a call for clearer guardrails

The core sentiment among investors is not opposition to public funding, but the desire to ensure that a large, mission-oriented corpus operates with clear guardrails. Deeptech ventures often require longer gestation periods, higher technical risk tolerance and steady follow-on support. That makes process design—how decisions are taken, how performance is tracked, and how conflicts are managed—especially important.

Investors tracking the RDI fund discussions say clarity is needed on the fund’s governance structure, decision-making hierarchy and evaluation frameworks. Typical questions include how priorities will be set across sectors, what constitutes “deeptech” eligibility, and how the pipeline will be balanced between early research, prototyping and commercial scale-up.

There is also interest in well-defined disclosure practices. In deeptech, credibility is built not only on headline allocations but also on consistent reporting: timelines, selection outcomes, milestones and learnings from projects that do not succeed.

Independent oversight to build trust and attract co-investment

A recurring recommendation from ecosystem voices is independent oversight—through an external committee, a clearly empowered board, or a structured audit-and-review mechanism. The objective is to create confidence that selections are merit-based, technically sound and aligned with India’s long-term innovation priorities.

Independent oversight can also help bridge a practical gap: attracting and retaining private co-investment. Many deeptech investors are willing to partner with public programmes, but they typically look for predictable processes, minimal ambiguity on eligibility, and a transparent rationale for funding decisions. When governance is robust, public funding can play a powerful role in de-risking early innovation and crowding in additional capital.

Stakeholders also emphasise the value of having domain experts involved across evaluation and monitoring—people who understand long development cycles, regulatory pathways and the reality of hardware-intensive iteration. This can improve decision quality and reduce delays, while still maintaining accountability.

A constructive opportunity to set new benchmarks

The ongoing debate is being framed by many in the ecosystem as an opportunity to set a new benchmark for public innovation finance in India—one that is outcomes-led, transparent and collaborative.

If designed well, the RDI fund could support a broader range of innovation pathways: university-to-startup technology transfer, pilot deployments with industry, and scale-up financing for globally competitive products. For this, investors believe the fund can benefit from:

• Clear, published criteria for selection and sectoral priorities
• Predictable timelines for review, disbursement and milestone checks
• Strong disclosure norms, including periodic reporting on approvals and progress
• Independent governance mechanisms to reduce conflicts of interest and increase trust

Such measures are often seen as “plumbing”—not headline-grabbing, but foundational. They can help ensure that public capital reaches high-quality teams faster and encourages more founders to take on ambitious, science-led problems.

**Why it matters:** India’s deeptech ambitions depend on patient capital and credible institutions. Transparent processes and independent oversight can help the ₹1 lakh crore RDI fund deliver durable impact—boosting innovation, enabling private co-investment and strengthening confidence across the startup ecosystem.