Due to some recent misleading posts regarding available R&D funding in India, I thought I would post a few facts.
STEEL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY MISSION OF INDIA (SRTMI)
To spearhead R&D activities of national importance through joint collaborative research programmes in steel sector, an Industry led initiative called SRTMI has been setup in close cooperation amongst the steel companies, Ministry of Steel, academia and relevant R&D institutions in the country. The mission will facilitate joint collaborative R&D proposals of national importance inter-alia to ensure raw material security, development of relevant technologies suitable for domestic raw materials to ensure reduction in energy consumption & Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to address climate change issues.
After introduction of SRTMI, a major bottleneck will be overcome as earlier all the Institutes, PSUs, Private Sector companies were busy doing their own R&D without consulting, coordinating and sharing any information amongst themselves. According to Ministry of Steel, this will be a single umbrella under which all diverse R&D works will be clubbed under one roof. As regards funding of the project, the Committee note that initial corpus for setting up of SRTMI is Rs. 200 crore of which 50% is to be provided by the Ministry of Steel and the balance by the participating Steel Companies. According to Ministry of Steel, major steel companies like SAIL, RINL, NMDC, Tata Steel, JSW, JSPL and MECON.
SRTMI available R&D funding = $39.3 million AUD (This information was released 10 days ago to the Indian Parliament via the Standing Committee for Coal & Steel.)
NATIONAL CLEAN ENERGY FUND (NCEF)
Run by Indian Ministry of Finance, this fund is financed by the environmental tax on coal @400 rupees/per ton. Any project/scheme relating to Innovative methods to adopt to Clean Energy technology and Research & Development are eligible for funding under the NCEF. Including ...
Projects which result in replacing existing technology in energy generation with more environmentally sustainable approach.
Clean Fossil Energy: This would include power, oil, gas and coal technologies.
The Fund may also support pilot & demonstration projects for commercialization in the relevant field.
"Till the end of last year, NCEF held close to $2.53 billion of grant funds which was to be allocated initially in innovation and R&D in clean energy sector, and to be modified to include investments in clean energy."
For 2016-17 The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has been allocated 445 crore for Research, Development and International cooperation. (Info release 28th June 2016)
Eligibility: Sponsored by a ministry/department of the government and submitted by an individual/consortium of organizations in the government/public sector/private sector in the form of loan or viability gap funding, as the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) evaluates fit on a case-by-case basis. However, the participating organizations will have to put in a minimum financial commitment of 40 percent. The government assistance under the NCEF shall in no case exceed 40 percent of the total project cost.
Funding up to $59 million AUD can granted for a single project, and requires the signature of Piyush Goyal and the Finance Minister.
NCEF available R&D funding = $87.8 million AUD
In a nutshell, our Coldry-Matmor project meets the criteria and eligibility for a slice of the available $121 million AU allocated for investment (not including direct contributions from NLC / NMDC) ... and that is a FACT.
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