BIRAC Research, Development & Innovation Fund (RDIF)
Funds Indian deep-tech biotech startups, SMEs and large industries scaling indigenous manufacturing.
This fund explicitly isn't for incremental improvement: its own framing calls for 'delta change' -- transformative leaps rather than gradual gains -- and for resetting global benchmarks rather than optimising for the Indian market alone. Concrete examples the fund itself cites include AI-engineered enzymes with at least ten times the catalytic performance of existing options and manufacturing capa…
The fund backs deep-tech innovations at TRL 4 and above across biotechnology-linked fields: healthcare and biopharma, agriculture and food systems, climate and environment, industrial and synthetic biology, bioenergy, AI and machine learning, and strategic manufacturing that substitutes imports. It prioritises platform technologies and high-value IP over single products, and indigenous manufacturing that reduces India's reliance on imported reagents, equipment and bioprocessing supplies.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →Grants for Biotech Startups: NIH, NSF, SBIR/STTR, and Non-Dilutive Funding
A practical guide to grants for biotech startups, including NIH SBIR/STTR, NSF, translational funding, evidence, regulatory readiness, and budgets.
Find grantsGovernment Grants for Startups: What Deeptech Founders Should Know
A practical guide to government grants for startups, including Grants.gov, SBIR/STTR, state programs, eligibility, fit, timelines, and when to apply.
Write proposalGrant Proposal Sections: What Reviewers Expect in Each Part
A section-by-section guide to grant proposal format, project summaries, work plans, budgets, teams, letters of support, outcomes, and reviewer expectations.
More from BIRAC
All grants from this funder →BIG Grant (Biotechnology Ignition Grant)
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds early-stage Indian biotechnology ventures through proof-of-concept support and startup development stages.
BIPP Grant (Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme)
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds Indian biotechnology partnerships with industry to pursue frontier life-science breakthroughs at early stage.
SBIRI Grant
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds early Indian biotech enterprises in pre-commercial research collaboration with innovation partners.
Contract Research Scheme
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds company partners validating academic biotechnology prototypes through BIRAC contract research grants.
DBT-BIRAC Bio-AI Call under BioE3 Policy
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds Indian companies and startups developing Bio-AI platforms for high-performance biomanufacturing.
Grand Challenges India Screening and Diagnosis Innovations
🇮🇳BIRAC · India
Funds Indian startups and R&D organizations developing infectious-disease screening and diagnosis innovations.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →
Wadhwani Innovation Network — Center of Excellence Research Grants
🇮🇳Wadhwani · India
Funds Indian Center of Excellence teams working on deep technology and bioengineering commercialization.
India-Finland Joint Innovation Call 2026
🇮🇳DST India · India
Grants Indian-Finnish R&D consortia up to Rs.2.5 crore per project for joint tech development.
NIDHI — Incubation Support
🇮🇳DST India · India
Supports deep-tech and science-based startups through a network of Indian incubators and prototype centers.
NIDHI Entrepreneur-in-Residence
🇮🇳DST India · India
Funds entrepreneurs and innovators developing technology business ideas through NIDHI EIR.
Research Development and Innovation Fund
🇮🇳TDB · India
Funds Indian companies and startups scaling RDI-intensive technologies through concessional loans and equity.
SAMRIDH Matching Investment — Cohort-Based
🇮🇳MeitY · India
Funds Indian startups with matching-investment support via accelerator cohort routing.