PRIP Scheme Adds Discovery Track With Aid up to Rs 50 Crore

The correct answer is Rs 50 crore. The Department of Pharmaceuticals announced that the New Discovery track will provide financial assistance of up to this amount per company, per project or per portfolio of projects, subject to minimum co-funding of a quarter of the project cost from bona fide institutional investors. Option A is the ceiling of the Early Stage track, which supports start-ups and MSMEs at the lowest readiness levels, so it is a genuine figure but from a different track. Option D is the ceiling of the Later Stage track, which applies to projects at higher readiness levels and is capped at a share of the approved cost. Option B is not a ceiling under any of the three tracks. Learn the three ceilings as a set, since the paper setter swaps them between tracks.

The correct answer is Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma and MedTech. The scheme is run by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, and it is designed to strengthen the country's pharmaceutical and medical technology research ecosystem by helping start-ups, MSMEs and large companies move up the innovation value chain. Options B, C and D are invented expansions built from similar vocabulary, and such near-miss acronyms are the standard way of setting a distractor. Note that the scheme covers both pharmaceuticals and medical devices, which is why MedTech appears in the name, and that its priority areas include novel medical devices alongside new medicines and complex generics. Candidates should also note that the scheme is meant to help start-ups, MSMEs and large companies alike move up the innovation value chain, so the applicant categories are as worth learning as the name itself.

The correct answer is Rs 5,000 crore. This is the outlay with which the scheme aims to strengthen India's pharmaceutical and medical technology research and development ecosystem. Option A is the amount already committed under the first call, when 41 projects were approved for roughly that sum, so it is a real figure from the announcement but not the outlay, and it is the distractor most likely to be picked. Options B and D are round figures that do not appear in the announcement at all. A useful way to hold this together is to remember that a little under a third of the outlay has been committed in the first round, with evaluation of the remaining first-round applications still going on and results expected over the following month.

The correct answer is TRL 1, 2 or 3. Start-ups and MSMEs taking up New Chemical Entity or New Biological Entity projects at those three readiness levels may apply under this exclusive track, and the department will support them to progress to higher levels but not beyond TRL 6. Option B describes the eligibility band of the Later Stage track, which is open to industry as well as start-ups and MSMEs, so it is the closest and most tempting wrong choice. Option C names levels that fall outside what any of the tracks admit for entry. Option D is wrong because the scheme sets definite bands for each track rather than admitting every level. Note that the Early Stage track shares the same entry band but caps support at TRL 5.