Union Budget 2025: FM Nirmala Sitharaman unveils Deep Tech Fund, Clean Tech push

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced the exploration of a Deep Tech Fund of Funds to catalyse the next generation of technological innovations.

This initiative is expected to strengthen India's position in deep tech and strategic sectors.

Unveiling several key initiatives in her budget speech, Sitharaman emphasised the government's commitment to fostering technological advancements, boosting infrastructure, and supporting various sectors of the economy.

Sitharaman noted that the total number of students in the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has doubled over the past decade, rising from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh. To accommodate this growth, additional infrastructure will be created in the five IITs established post-2014, facilitating education for 6,500 more students. Hostel and other infrastructure capacity at IIT Patna will also be expanded.

Recognising the contributions of gig workers in the modern services economy, the government will provide them with identity cards and register them on the e-Shram portal. Additionally, they will receive healthcare benefits under the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, a move that is expected to benefit nearly 1 crore gig workers.

Each infrastructure-related ministry will prepare a three-year pipeline of projects for implementation under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. States will also be encouraged to participate and can seek support from the India Infrastructure Project Development Fund (IIPDF) scheme for PPP proposals.

Under the PM Research Fellowship scheme, the government plans to provide 10,000 fellowships over the next five years for technological research in IITs and IISc. Financial support under the scheme will also be enhanced.

Reaffirming the government’s commitment to climate-friendly development, the Finance Minister stated that the Mission will support Clean Tech manufacturing. This initiative aims to enhance domestic value addition in sectors such as solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolyzers, wind turbines, very high voltage transmission equipment, and grid-scale batteries.

To promote education in regional languages, the government will implement the Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme, which will provide digital-form Indian language books for school and higher education. This scheme is intended to help students better understand their subjects.