India's DeepTech Ascent

At IN44 Capital, one of the promising verticals we support are DeepTech companies, solving large scale problems using deep domain expertise and new product development.

Deep tech is characterised by bleeding-edge science and engineering, requiring significant capital and long gestation periods. Leading cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, and New Delhi are emerging as key innovation clusters, housing research powerhouses and building a vibrant ecosystem around the talent pool.

India is rapidly transforming from a tech outsourcing powerhouse to a global deep tech hub, leveraging its immense talent pool and strategic investments. With over 2500-3000 startups and $350M invested in 2023 only, India's DeepTech ecosystem is expanding across AI, quantum computing, space tech, and more.

India's vast market size, low-cost tech talent, and growing deep tech ecosystem position it to become a global leader in sustainable innovation. By fostering deep tech entrepreneurship and leveraging its scientific capabilities, India can drive transformative solutions for global sustainability challenges.

Despite these advancements, India faces challenges such as limited early-stage funding, inadequate infrastructure, and low domestic adoption of cutting-edge innovations. Addressing these gaps through strategic policy action, enhanced industry-academia collaboration, and increased infrastructure investment is essential.

The government have been central in devising strategies and policies that help sustain this growth. Here's a list of all initiatives that empower the sector.

1. National Deeptech Startup Policy: Focuses on frontier technologies like semiconductors, AI, and space tech to drive innovation and growth.
2. National Research Foundation (NRF): Allocates ₹50,000 crore over five years to fund science projects and research in Indian universities and colleges.
3. ₹1 lakh crore corpus for technological research: Provides long-term funding with interest-free loans for 50 years to boost private sector research and innovation.
4. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes: Encourages domestic manufacturing and investment in key industries like electronics, pharmaceuticals, and solar PV modules.
5. India Semiconductor Mission (ISM): Aims to establish India as a global hub for semiconductor and display manufacturing.
6. National Quantum Mission (NQM): Invests over ₹6,000 crore to develop R&D in quantum technology from 2023-24 to 2030-31.
7. India AI Mission: Allocates more than ₹10,000 crore to strengthen the AI ecosystem and promote responsible AI development.
8. New Electric Vehicle Policy 2024: Positions India as a major EV manufacturing hub, advancing the development of batteries, autonomous vehicles, and next-gen EVs.

With the above support, we believe the Indian DeepTech ecosystem is poised for exponential growth, providing a strong guiding light (deep) to catapult the India Story into its next orbit.