With 90% of budget spent, Defence Ministry seeks additional funds to expand its flagship scheme for innovations

As per official data, till August this year, procurement of 37 products successfully developed under iDEX worth Rs 2,370 crore have been approved, of which procurement contracts of 21 products worth Rs 800 crore have already been signed. More challenges are being launched under iDEX. As per the data, over 300 of them have been declared iDEX winners.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at an event said 26 products have been developed under the iDEX initiative, for which procurement orders worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been placed.

Senior government officials said the exhaustion of funds is in line with the steady and fast uptake of the scheme and its success has encouraged its scaling up and that it needs additional funds and other resources, including manpower.

An official said around 90% funds of the approved budgetary outlay have already been committed against the ongoing projects, adding that for further signing of contracts with iDEX winners, additional funds of Rs 497.15 crore is required.

The official added that commitment of additional funds from the government is essential to continue further engagement of iDEX with startups and this has also been highlighted in a recent communication to the Finance Ministry by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane.

An official said the need for additional funds had also been recommended by the Revised Cost Committee (RCC) in 2023 and the process for third-party evaluation of the scheme has already been initiated for completion within the current financial year.

Once approved, it will take the total cost of the central sector scheme to around Rs 996 crore.

Initially, the grant provided to iDEX winners was Rs 1.5 crore, but the iDEX scheme was expanded to iDEX Prime later, with the assistance increasing from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 10 crore. This is because several stakeholders felt that despite having the capability and the technical knowhow, the ceiling of Rs 1.5 crore was a constraint in developing advanced and complex systems in the niche domain of defence and aerospace.

Earlier this year, the Defence Minister launched another initiative — the Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) scheme — to promote innovations in critical and strategic defence technologies under which start-ups are eligible to receive grant-in-aid of up to Rs 25 crore for their research, development and innovation endeavours in defence technology.

The ADITI scheme worth Rs 750 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26 falls under the iDEX framework and aims to develop about 30 deep-tech critical and strategic technologies in a proposed timeframe, while bridging the gap between the expectations and requirements of the modern Armed Forces and the capabilities of the defence innovation ecosystem.

As per a government statement, in the first edition of ADITI, 17 challenges – three for the Indian Army, five each for the Navy and the Indian Air Force and four for the Defence Space Agency — were launched.

Earlier this month, Singh launched the ADITI 2.0, featuring 19 challenges from the armed forces and allied agencies in the domains of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, military communication, anti-drone systems customised for military platforms and adaptive camouflage among others.

This scheme offers a grant of up to Rs 25 crore to iDEX winners, focusing on critical technological areas crucial for strengthening the defence ecosystem of the country.

He also launched the 12th edition of Defence India Start-up Challenges (DISC 12), which presents 41 challenges across key technology domains, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), AI, networking and communication, with grants up to Rs 1.5 crore.

To provide momentum to the iDEX initiative, DISC was launched in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, aimed at supporting start-ups, MSMEs, innovators to create prototypes and commercialise products or solutions in national defence and security.

As per the Defence Minister, iDEX has received over 9,000 applications so far, and is currently collaborating with more than 450 start-ups and MSMEs.