Technology Development Fund

Technology development fund, the program is executed by the (DRDO) defense research and development organization. The scheme has been established to promote self-reliance in Defence Technology as a part of the ‘Make in India 'Initiative and to fulfill the requirements of tri-services, defense production, and DRDO.  

The TDF scheme encourages the participation of public/private industries, especially MSMEs (Micro Small Medium Enterprises) and startups, to create an ecosystem for enhancing innovative technology capability in the defense sector. The sole purpose of this scheme is to provide funds for research. 

Aim of the scheme 

Creating an ecosystem for promoting self-reliance by building indigenous state-of-the-art systems for defense applications, boost to defense manufacturing technology and encouraging the industry to innovate defense technologies. 

• The duration of this project will be a maximum of 2 years of development. 

Eligibility Criteria 

• MSMEs and Startups registered in India, 

• Public limited company, private limited company, partnership firms, limited liability partnership, one-person company, sole proprietorship registered in the applicable laws of India 

• The industry has to be owned and controlled by a resident Indian Citizen with a shareholding of at least 51% 

Selection Criteria 

A three-tier evaluation and assessment can be done based on the following characteristics:  

1. Design capability  

2. Fabrication and manufacturing capability  

3.Maintainability and life cycle support 

4.Commercial viability 

5.Capacity and profile of the company 

Benefits of the scheme to industries 

•  Joint ownership of intellectual property rights (IPR) along with DRDO  

• Sales opportunity to primes as subcontractors 

• Licensing of the product/technology for commercial gains  

• Export opportunities  

• It will create a direct channel of sales in the private marketplace for the development of dual-use technology  

Application procedure  

You can apply through an online portal, follow these steps: 

• Every interested Industry /Technology expert/Academia can register themselves on the TDF portal. 

• When you receive a verification link, you must verify themselves, complete their profile and submit the same for approval. 

• Once the profiles are approved by the TDF admin panel, the respective industry can look at the projects you wish to apply for. 

A detailed step-by-step guide on the process of applying for projects is also provided in the Documentation. These are the following documents required to be attached with your application form:  

• The latest Certificate of Incorporation by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) 

• Latest Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the Company that are going to be applied  

• All details related to the Directors, Managing Director, and Manager of the Company 

• The complete and correct address of the registered office of the company 

• Documents submitted to the RoC for the last five successive years 

• Annual Return with attachments. 

• A balance sheet with attachments. 

• Profit and Loss account with attachments 

• Compliance certificate with attachments. 

• Auditor’s Report 

• Director’s Report 

• Auditor certified data of the company for the last 5 years (since incorporation) if the company was incorporated in the last five years 

• Income Tax Return filed for the last five years (since incorporation) if the company was incorporated in the last five years and the latest valid Income Tax Clearance Certificate (ITCC) with details of turnover. 

• ISO certification document 

• Patent/IPR certificates 

• All the details of international standards acquired like CMM software certification, with validity and certification agency. 

• Copy of Association of Persons (AOP) Agreement 

• The company should have or be in the process of acquiring a license/ development of products if the product under project needs a license as per DIPP’s licensing policy 

• Relevant details of the company organization, Management Structure, Capabilities, Infrastructure, and Key personnel involved in executing the project 

• Details of any earlier partnership with DRDO/PSU/DPSU 

• Certificate regarding the clause-wise acceptance of all terms and conditions given in the EoI, for the completion of the project 

• Technical specifications of the equipment of the project that are proposed to be used.