Telangana to facilitate Ministry of Defence’s grants to startups under TDF

T-Works and T-Hub on Friday co-hosted a high-level DRDO team led by director Nidhi Bansal to orient startups and MSMEs on the scheme

Hyderabad: Telangana will facilitate grants under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme of the Ministry of Defence. The scheme encourages participation of public and private industries, with a preference for startups and MSMEs in order to create an ecosystem for enhancing cutting-edge technology capabilities in the defence sector.

T-Works and T-Hub on Friday co-hosted a high-level DRDO team led by director Nidhi Bansal to orient startups and MSMEs on the scheme, which will enable startups to compete for grant funding of up to Rs 10 crore each for developing high-technology solutions against specific requirements.

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Speaking on the occasion, Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, Industries and ITE&C Department said, “The Telangana Government has always been proactive in facilitating unique central government schemes such as DRDO-TDF to reach our startups. We have T-Works, T-Hub, We-Hub, and RICH as part of our innovation ecosystem to drive startup growth in the State and country.”

T-Works, India’s largest prototyping centre, will enable startups to develop products, which meet stringent quality standards of DRDO by providing access to industry-grade equipment and in-house technical experts.

“The facility will lower barriers for participating companies by providing high-end prototyping techniques at affordable prices all under one roof in our 78,000sft centre in HITEC City,” said Sujai Karampuri, CEO, T-Works.

Commenting on the scheme, Nidhi Bansal, director, DRDO-TDF, said, “Startups working with T-Works and T-Hub can make efficient use of the funds awarded by DRDO-TDF. In fact, 20 per cent of the awarded funds may be used by startups to utilise services of supporting incubators.”

The scheme has been established to promote self-reliance in defence technology as a part of ‘Make in India’ initiative. It is a programme of the Ministry of Defence and executed by DRDO to meet the requirements of the tri-services, defence production and DRDO.

The event was also attended by the director of Aerospace and Defence (Telangana government), additional director of DRDO-TDF, and 50 startups and MSMEs..

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