Corpus of Rs 1 lk cr to scale up research in sunrise domains: FM Sitharaman

A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loans to encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation in sunrise domains, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman said this will be a golden era for India's tech savvy youth.

"A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with 50-year interest free loan. The corpus will provide long-term financing or refinancing with long tenures and low or nil interest rates," the minister said.

"This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains. We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology," she added.

EV stocks rally

Shares of companies related to the electric vehicle segment jumped on Thursday after the announcement that the government will expand the electric vehicle ecosystem to support charging infra, and e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged. The stock of Olectra Greentech jumped 6.21% to reach its 52-week high of Rs 1,849.25 on the BSE.

JBM Auto climbed 4.96% to hit its one-year peak of Rs 2,010.80. Greaves Cotton went up by 3% to the day's high of Rs 168.55.

The government will expand the electric vehicle ecosystem to support charging infra, and e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

Sitharaman, in her pre-election Budget, which is technically a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, also said the blending of compressed biogas into compressed natural gas for transport and piped natural gas will be mandatory.

Biomanufacturing and bio foundry scheme will be launched to provide environment-friendly alternatives for bio-degradable production, she added.