Frequently Asked Questions
Technology Development Fund (TDF) has been established to promote self-reliance in Defence Technology as a part of the 'Make in India' initiative. It is a programme of MoD (Ministry of Defence) executed by DRDO meeting the requirements of Tri-Services, Defence Production and DRDO.
This scheme aims at funding the development of defence and dual use technologies that are currently not available with the Indian industry, or have not been developed so far.
Information about the same can be found in Para 1 of the Standard Operating Procedure document as provided in the “Resources” section of the website.
- The scheme will be limited to development of technologies or prototype of product having potential use for the Services.
- The financial criteria for inclusion of projects under the TDF scheme will be that the cost of development spread across all the required technology development phases will not exceed INR 10 crore.
- Typically, the projects under the TDF scheme will not exceed a development period of two years.
- Proprietorships/Partnerships/LLPs/Private Limited Companies owned and Controlled by Resident Indian Citizens.
- Types of entities above with foreign investments/partnerships not exceeding 49%.
- Aspirants may form a consortium/Association of Persons and apply, with the aforementioned criteria applicable.
- Non – Profits are not eligible to Participate in the scheme.
- If Educational Institutions/Research Institutions are involved, their involvement in the work cannot exceed 40%. In such arrangements, the Industry applicant shall be considered as the Lead agency. Further, Research Institutions are considered at par with educational institutions.
The test facility available with DRDO or MoD will be provided to DA on basis of essentiality & priority as decided by the custodian of the test facility. However, the test facility, when made available to DA, will be on charges as prescribed by the custodian of the facility.
Application for Technology Development Fund Scheme award will be submitted online (https://tdf.drdo.gov.in).
Yes. Proposals are only accepted from entities registered as "industry" in the portal. For registering as "industry", we mandate submission of your MSME/Startup India recognition certificate.
No (Partnership Firm, Sole Proprietorship firm registered under applicable laws are also eligible).
No. DRDO/DTDF doesn't charge any fee/remuneration for awarding of projects.
Yes. However, the cost element for the same has to be borne by the bidder.
No. Your price quotations in the project should be inclusive of GST.
A start-up will be considered as Nascent Start-ups on fulfilling the following criteria:
- a) The Start-up shall be less than 3 years old
- b) The Start-up shall be incubated in a government recognized / assisted Incubator
- c) The Incubator shall be at least 2 years old and should be have experience of supporting at least 25 Start-ups
- d) The facility available with incubator shall be made available to participating start-up. A maximum of 20% of total project cost can be used towards payment to incubator.
Details of the process involvement in release of funds can be found in Para 42 of the Standard Operating Procedure document as provided in the “Resources” section of this website. Summarily, the release of funds is facilitated under one of the two options.
Option 1: Issuance of Grant Letter, release of 20% of the Grant Amount and reimbursement of costs in the 5 (five milestones) for disbursement of the remaining 80%.
For the purpose of Fund release, the selected agency is required to open and operate a new bank account with complete access and information to books of accounts to DTDF/DRDO.
Conditions pertaining to cost and time overruns have been covered in Para 47, 48 and 49 of the Standard Operating Procedure Document as provided in the “Resources” section of the website.
Yes, the following points must be kept in mind before submitting the price bid:
- 1. Academia share should not be more than 40% of the total project cost.
- 2. Overheads share should not be more than 10% of the total project cost.
- 3. Contingency share should not be more than 3% of the total project cost.
The equipment head should solely include the costs incurred for acquiring new and essential equipment for which invoices within the validated time period must be existing. It is clarified that the wear, tear, usage and depreciation of equipment shall not be a part of the 'Equipment' head and must be included as a part of 'consumables' / any other relevant heads whilst providing price bid.
For the purposes of the scheme, PMMG with the assistance of Invest India undertakes Feasibility analysis of all project requirements as submitted by the Service Headquarters of the various branches of the Armed Forces. Under this analysis, the portal accepts feasibility studies from industries and technical experts registered with the website, within a stipulated deadline. After the same, Invest India undertakes the feasibility analysis, first through industrial analysis and then facilitating a workshop under the aegis of Directorate of TDF with academic and industry experts and representatives, based on which a final output is prepared for the perusal of the Directorate of TDF which takes a decision on the requirements as submitted by the Armed Forces.
Educational Institutions, Indian Enterprises and Industry Experts can participate in a Feasibility Study.
Step – by – step guidelines have been provided in the Tutorials section of the website as “Guide for Submission of Feasibility Study”.
No, Foreign Entity can not participate in the Feasibility Study.
A feasibility study is an exercise which invites your inputs towards assessment of feasibility of a project requirement. After undergoing all procedures pertaining to this assessment, a requirement is deemed "feasible/not feasible" for taking it ahead as a project. As such, a feasibility study doesn't warrant any awarding and hence results of the same are not declared for individual submissions. If a project is deemed feasible, it is opened up as a project for accepting EOIs.
Yes. It is expected that the procedures involving production, testing, and certification are completed within the stipulated 24 months.
You may find the same in the document titled “Policy for Design Development and Production of Military Airsystems and Airborne Stores” and the document titled “Certification of Military Airsystems & Airborne Stores and Approval of Organizations” published by CEMILAC in the “Resources” section of this website.
The same can be found in the Press Notes dated January 01, 2019, and September 11, 2019, as released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The links are mentioned below:
No. These are different steps involved in shortlisting of projects by PMMG and the competent authority. The decision of the competent authority remains final and binding in regards to the awarding of projects.
The competent authority can change the project specifications at any point of time based on requirements of the user. The expectation of meeting revised specifications remains binding while selecting agency/agencies for awarding a project.
Details pertaining to the process may be found in Para 25 of the Standard Operating Procedure which you may find in the “Resources” section of the website. Summarily, the process involves issuance of Expression of Interest [EoIs], shortlisting of agencies based on their EOIs, seeking a Detailed Project Report, followed by selection of DA’s after which a project is awarded.
Detailed procedure about the same may be found in the Standard Operating Procedure Document [Para 16 onwards] as provided in the “Resources” section of the website.
We classify such innovations as “suo moto proposals”. We are accepting proposals against the requirements forwarded by MoD as per SOP. We encourage you to kindly visit our portal [http://tdf.drdo.gov.in] and acquaint yourself with the scheme and upcoming projects.
Individual Experts, Educational Institutions, SMEs and Large Enterprises can participate in the Feasibility Analysis.
Individual Experts, Educational Institutions, SMEs and Large Enterprises can participate in the Feasibility Analysis.
You can find detailed guidelines about the same in the “Appendix – A” document as provided in the “Resources” section in the website.
You can apply for multiple projects, however you must provide all the details of the list of projects that you have been awarded/applied for already under the TDF Scheme.
Yes. You can apply.
Illustrative criteria for evaluation may be found in “Appendix – E” document as provided in the “Resources” section of the website.
You will be required to submit a Project Definition Document [PDD] as per “Appendix – C” as well as your financial documents as per Annexure -II of Appendix-D of the SOP. Details are provided in the “Resources” section in the website.
Format of the DPR may be found in “Appendix – F” as provided in the “Resources” section in the website.
You may find general terms and conditions as a pop – up while applying for a project in the website. You may find a downloadable version of the same in the “Resources” section in the website.
We have inculcated a paperless system for accepting EOIs to our projects. You may find a step-by-step guide in the “Resources” section in the website.
TDF scheme will also projects requirements targeting nascent Start-up from time to time. Such projects will be of cost less than Rs. 1 Cr and will be opened only to nascent Start-ups. In case, no nascent Start-up qualifies then other Start-ups will be considered.
You may visit the “contact us” page and submit your queries.
Please refer to the Appendix ‘B’ document as provided in the “Resources” page of the website.
Detailed guidelines are provided in Para C of “Appendix ‘A’” document as provided in “Resources” section of this website.
Detailed guidelines are provided in Para D of “Appendix ‘A’” document as provided in “Resources” section of this website.
An illustrative format is provided in Annexure I of “Appendix ‘A’” document as provided in “Resources” section of this website.
Maximum 3 individuals/companies may participate.
Details about making changes to constitution of an AOP/Consortium may be found in Para ‘E’ of the Appendix ‘A’ document as provided in the “Resources” section.
No. Please refer to Para 3 (e) under section D [Eligibility to Respond to an EOI as an Individual Entity or a Consortium] of Appendix ‘A’ to the Standard Operating Procedure [SOP] as provided in the “Resources” section of the website.
