“I have never seen anyone move at this pace, let alone the government. I’m flabbergasted, honestly,” said the founder of a company that received tens of crores from India’s Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) Fund in May.

More than the quantum of money, it’s the speed that has stunned everyone.

After decades of small, bureaucracy-choked bets on incremental technology, India has swung for the frontier. The RDI fund is writing large cheques, up to 50% of assessed project cost, for companies and VC funds working in what it calls “strategic, sunrise” fields—semiconductors, space,........

© The Ken