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In a significant step aimed at developing deep-tech ecosystem in India, a new industry coalition, India DeepTech Alliance (IDTA), was unveiled here on Tuesday with an initial commitment of over $1 billion from investors.
The Alliance was unveiled on the first day of Semicon India 2025, and eight investors have committed USD one billion to it in the past week. Nishith Desai, Founder of Nishith Desai Associates, a leading research-based strategic global law firm, said there is no dearth of talent in India. "We have formed what is called the India Deep-Tech Alliance Investment, and eight investors have committed $1bn to it within a week. This is just the first phase. The government will contribute equally, so that makes it $2bn in a week. This is the speed at which we are moving... There is no dearth of talent in India; there is a dearth of organisations that can nurture the talent and take them to the next level," he told ANI. Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner, Celesta Capital, said India Deep-Tech Alliance is a way for financial investors to coordinate how they engage in identifying opportunities and co-investing in developing startups. "We have announced an India Deep-Tech Alliance which is a collaboration or consortium of many venture capital firms, coming together to develop the Deep-Tech ecosystem in India. This is a way for financial investors to coordinate how they engage in identifying opportunities, sharing technical diligence information between the participants and also co-investing in developing startups," he said "The government is also looking to invest in startups in conjunction with VCs in those startups. The government is also looking to providing low cost long-term, interest-free or low interest loans to these startups. The government is also looking to capitalise second-level fund managers," he added. He said IDTA is not a single new fund but a strategic alliance--a consortium of global and Indian VCs working in tandem to build and scale the deep tech ecosystem in India. The alliance will foster co-investment, shared technical diligence, and close coordination with the Government of India, particularly in RDI (Research, Development, and Innovation). "The objective of the investors is to invest in deep tech sectors, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing and hardware and Artificial Intelligence and digital biology and robotics and space and defense technologies and quantum technologies and all of that. The government likes to call it as the strategic sunrise sectors or the sectors that are more foundational with intellectual property," Viswanathan said. The focus is on strategic sunrise sectors such as semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, AI, quantum computing, robotics, digital biology, space, and defence technologies--areas rich in intellectual property and foundational technologies. Viswanathan noted that this initiative has been in development for some time, aligning with national priorities as outlined by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. PM Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 'Semicon India - 2025', aimed at catalysing India's Semiconductor ecosystem. (ANI)
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