TDB Core Funding

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.