Union Minister Rajnath Singh announces ADITI scheme to fund defence startups up to Rs 25 Crore

Defence minister Rajnath Singh has announced a new scheme that will fund research and development by startups, with the government providing funding up to Rs 25 crore for innovations required by the armed forces.

Under the new scheme, startups and innovators would be presented with challenges in technology faced by the armed forces and would be asked to come up with solutions. Proposals that meet technical requirements would be eligible for a grant in aid of up to Rs 25 crore to develop the required systems within a defined time period.

Named Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI), the scheme will promote innovations in critical and strategic defence technologies and a total of 30 deep tech challenges will be taken up in the next two years. On Monday, the initial set of 17 challenges were announced to the industry.


"The scheme will nurture the innovation of youth and help the country leap forward in the field of technology," Singh said after unveiling the new scheme. In the past, development assistance to a maximum limit of ₹10 crore was given by the ministry under other schemes.

The minister said that "getting a hold on state-of-the-art defence technology" is the most crucial aspect to achieve self-reliance due to the increasing role of cutting-edge technology in warfare.

"Strategic autonomy can be maintained only when arms and equipment are made in India by our own people. We are working towards this, and the results are positive. While in 2014 our domestic defence production was around Rs 44,000 crore, today it has crossed the record figure of Rs 1 lakh crore, and is growing continuously," he said.

As part of the event, the defence ministry announced memoranda of understanding with new investors to facilitate increased investment in defence startups. These strategic partnerships have now taken a pledge to raise funds from Rs 200 crore at present to over Rs 500 crore.