What is the corpus of the Research, Development and Innovation Fund?
- A.₹10,000 crore
- B.₹50,000 crore
- C.₹1 lakh crore
- D.₹2 lakh crore
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is ₹1 lakh crore. The release refers throughout to the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund, and it is the size of that corpus that makes the Minister's appeal for outreach necessary: thousands of applications are arriving, some from applicants who do not appear to understand what the fund is for. He cautioned against treating it as merely another source of finance or as a conventional loan facility, and said its purpose is to support technology development and research in a manner that contributes to scientific progress and to the growth of the national economy. The wrong options are round figures of the kind that attach to individual schemes, but the number to remember for this fund is one lakh crore rupees. Note also that the fund extends support at a later stage, described as TRL4 level.
Read the full article: RDI Fund of ₹1 Lakh Crore Needs Wider Awareness: Minister
Practice Questions
Dr Jitendra Singh spoke about the RDI Fund at the Foundation Day of which body?
- A.Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
- B.Technology Development Board
- C.Department of Science and Technology
- D.Science and Engineering Research Board
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The board was created so that technologies would not remain confined to laboratories but would be translated into products, solutions and enterprises that bring ease of living, provide livelihoods and add to the economy of the country.
Read the full explanation →According to the Minister, what share of India's start-ups comes from smaller towns?
- A.About one-fourth
- B.About one-third
- C.More than half
- D.Less than one-tenth
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The Minister said start-ups are not confined to Bengaluru or Hyderabad and that more than 50 per cent of them come from smaller towns, a figure he used while asking for prevailing myths about entrepreneurship to be dispelled.
Read the full explanation →At which technology readiness level does the RDI Fund extend support, as stated by the Minister?
- A.TRL1
- B.TRL4
- C.TRL7
- D.TRL9
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Speaking about what lies ahead, the Minister noted that the RDI Fund is offering support at a later stage, at the TRL4 level, and that the Technology Development Board was the first to roll out its proposals under the fund.
Read the full explanation →As of 6 November 2026, how many equipment items were listed on the I-STEM portal?
- A.4,044
- B.18,250
- C.31,540
- D.45,000
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As of 6 November 2026, the day its API integration with the Startup India Portal was launched, I-STEM listed 31,540 equipment items across 4,044 registered institutions, giving researchers and innovators a large national pool of scientific resources.
Read the full explanation →Who chaired the launch of the API integration between the Startup India and I-STEM portals on 6 November 2026?
- A.Dr. Parvinder Maini
- B.Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood
- C.Ateesh Kumar Singh
- D.Dr. Vishal Choudhary
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He described the integration as an institutional convergence that can lower R&D costs, avoid duplication of capital-intensive facilities and raise the use of publicly funded infrastructure.
Read the full explanation →