Technology Development Board (TDB)

This is TDB's permanent route and the one most founders mean when they say they are applying to TDB. It is open all year, with no cohort and no window, and it funds a specific project: taking a technology that is essentially ready and building the first commercial-scale production of it.

The instrument matters. The default is a soft loan at a concessional simple interest rate, repaid after the project finishes and a moratorium year has passed, with royalty payable on sales of the product during the loan period. Equity is an alternative mode, capped as a share of approved project cost and never more than the promoters have paid up. Grants exist under this route but TDB says they are sanctioned only in exceptional cases of national interest, so do not plan around one.

What you get

• Project financing for a defined share of the cost, disbursed in tranches against agreed technical and financial milestones
• A choice of instrument: soft loan, equity, or in exceptional cases a grant
• No processing, administrative or commitment charges
• Up to two and a half years to complete the project, then a moratorium year before repayment starts

Who can apply

• Commercial enterprises and companies incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 or 2013, cooperatives and other agencies. Sole proprietorships, sole entrepreneurs and partnership firms are excluded
• The company that will commercialise the technology, not the institution that developed it. Where a laboratory or institute owns the technology, attach its signed transfer agreement
• Technology at the upper readiness levels, from a prototype proven in an operational environment through to full commercial deployment
• Not available for basic research, a new research centre, refinancing, or building technical infrastructure on its own; not available to a sick or incipiently sick company; no more than two TDB projects at a time

What you must bring

• Evidence that the remainder of the project cost is committed, such as a letter from an investor, a venture firm, a financial institution or a bank
• Collateral and guarantees, which are mandatory, usually a charge over the assets created by the project plus further security
• An earnest deposit against the assistance sought, forfeited if you do not sign the loan agreement after the letter of intent

How selection works: an initial screening committee examines what comes in; the ones it recommends go to a project evaluation committee for detailed assessment including a visit to the project site; a project approval committee then decides. Proposals are judged on scientific, technological, commercial and financial merit together, including the state of the technology, the applicant's track record, the reasonableness of the cost and financing pattern, and measurable milestones. TDB puts the usual time at three to four months from a complete application.

How to apply: register your company on TDB's online portal, then log in and file the proposal. Applications are accepted online only and are received throughout the year. Only one proposal may be open at a time. Costs incurred before the date of application are not counted. General queries go to TDB's information cell inbox, infocell@tdb.gov.in.

The Research, Development and Innovation Fund is a Department of Science and Technology scheme approved by the Union Cabinet on 1 July 2025 to push private investment into research and innovation. TDB acts as a second level fund manager for it, which means the money reaches companies through TDB. It is listed as an open call on TDB's homepage with a live application button, and no closing date is published.

Be clear on the instrument: the scheme's own page says it does not provide grants, and does not provide short-term loans either, since those are expected to come from commercial lenders. What it provides is long-tenure collateral-free debt, optionally with equity.

What you get

• A long-tenure collateral-free loan at a concessional rate, disbursed in tranches against projected use of funds and milestones achieved
• Optionally equity participation alongside the loan, capped as a share of the assistance and of total shareholding
• Or a soft loan with a debt-to-equity conversion feature, where part of the sanctioned debt converts to equity at a pre-agreed discounted valuation if you raise a follow-on round at a significantly higher valuation, with exit by promoter buy-back or a block sale alongside other investors

Who can apply

• Any legal entity registered in India under the Companies Act 2013, the Indian Partnership Act 1932 or the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008, including startups as defined by the DPIIT notification of 19 February 2019
• Principal place of business or operations in India, registered global headquarters in India, and under the control of resident Indian citizens as defined in DPIIT's consolidated FDI policy
• Developing research-intensive technology at technology readiness level 4 and above, so an earlier stage than TDB's core route accepts

Which sectors: energy security, transition and climate action; deep technology including quantum, robotics and space; artificial intelligence applied to Indian problems in agriculture, health and education; biotechnology, biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices; the digital economy including digital agriculture; plus technologies whose indigenisation matters for strategic or economic reasons.

How to apply: through the apply link on TDB's page for this route. You bring the remaining project cost yourself or from commercial sources.

This is the one dated call open on TDB's site at the time of checking. It runs between the Department of Science and Technology and Business Finland, and TDB implements it on the Indian side. It opened on 1 April 2026 and closes on 30 September 2026 at four in the afternoon Indian time. Around six projects are expected to be funded, each running no more than two years.

Unlike TDB's core route, the Indian money here is a grant, paid as reimbursement for costs already incurred, on a proportionate basis, and capped at a share of the Indian project cost. Funding you hold from other public sources is taken into account, and you have to declare it.

What you get

• Grant support for the Indian partner, reimbursed against costs already spent
• A project of up to twenty-four months, with decisions expected by the end of 2026 and projects starting in January 2027

Who can apply

• An Indian company able to carry out research and development work, which heads the Indian side
• The lead company must be a commercial for-profit company registered under the Indian Companies Act 1956 or 2013, operating in and headquartered in India
• At least 51 per cent of the lead company must be owned by Indian citizens
• Limited liability partnerships, sole proprietors, one-person companies and partnership firms are not eligible
• Companies headquartered and owned outside India and their Indian subsidiaries, or the reverse, are not eligible
• A Finnish partner applies separately to Business Finland; an application from one side only is not valid

Which areas: sustainable energy, including renewables, smart cities, hydrogen, waste management and waste to energy, electric vehicles, carbon capture and energy storage; advanced digital technologies including 5G and 6G networks, data analytics, virtual worlds and artificial intelligence; and microelectronics and power electronics including sensors.

How selection works: each side evaluates its own applicants, Business Finland in Finland and DST with TDB in India. Only projects approved in both countries are funded. Projects must be innovative and market-driven, aimed at a new or improved product, process or service that leads to commercialisation, and both teams must show they can run their half.

How to apply: Indian partners submit through the TDB website with the joint application form and the nationally required attachments. A signed consortium agreement or memorandum covering intellectual property must be attached. Both sides must submit to their own agency before their own deadline.

Alongside its domestic funding, TDB runs joint calls with counterpart agencies abroad through its international cooperation division. An Indian company teams up with a company in the partner country, each side applies to its own agency, and only proposals approved in both countries get funded. Past and recent partners include Business Finland, the Israel Innovation Authority through the India-Israel fund, Vinnova in Sweden, the National Research Council Canada with Global Affairs Canada, Innovate UK, and agencies in Spain and Singapore.

The instrument on this route is not the soft loan. TDB describes international assistance as a grant, reimbursed for costs already incurred, or a conditional grant, which is repaid out of a small royalty on income from the product developed in the joint project until it is repaid in full.

What projects qualify: full-scale research and development work aimed at co-developing a new product, process or technology, or validating an innovative one, with a real technological contribution from each partner, a clear advantage from working together, and a balanced split of effort, with no single partner or country carrying more than sixty per cent of it.

Status: at the time of checking, the India-Finland Joint Innovation Call 2026 was the only one open. The India-Israel general and strategic calls closed in June 2026, the India-Sweden call in December 2025, the India-Canada call in October 2025, the India-Spain call in June 2025, the India-Singapore call in February 2025 and the India-UK call in February 2025. Watch TDB's international pages for the next announcement rather than applying against a closed one.

How to apply: each call publishes its own joint application form, deadline and attachments. The Indian side submits through the TDB website.

This call is closed. It opened on 20 February 2025, its last date was extended to 10 April 2025, and no successor has been announced. It is written up here because it is TDB's clearest statement of what it expects from a startup, and because a startup can still apply through the core route at any time on the same terms.

The call invited Indian startups at technology readiness level above six, meaning ready to commercialise rather than still being researched, and was aimed at bridging the gap between a working technology and a product on the market. Support followed TDB's standard funding guidelines, with a better share of project cost available on smaller projects than a non-startup would get.

Who could apply

• A company intending to commercialise the technology, incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 or 2013
• Holding a DPIIT recognition certificate

How to apply: it was an online submission through TDB's portal, with a downloadable form template so applicants could gather documents before filling it in. If a similar call reopens it will appear under the programme menu on TDB's site; in the meantime the rolling core route is open.

From time to time TDB issues a call for proposals for a single sector, inviting Indian companies with an indigenous technology at commercialisation stage in that field. Eligibility and the financial support follow TDB's standard funding guidelines, so the instrument is the same soft loan or equity as the core route; what a call adds is a focus area and a deadline.

Status: every national sector call listed on TDB's site has closed. The most recent were on semiconductor supply chain technologies and on metals and ceramics 3D printing, both extended to 30 October 2025. Earlier ones covered electronics and telecom, eco-friendly chemicals, rare disease solutions, sustainable agritech and supply chain, medical devices and sustainable energy. Do not treat any of these as live; if the sector fits, apply through the rolling core route instead, or watch the programme menu for a new call.

How to apply when one is open: register your company through the apply button on the call page and tick the call option while registering, then log in and either fill the online form or download the form, complete it and upload it with the supporting documents.