Budget 2021 includes several initiatives to promote science, technology, and innovation with applications in the country. It is a forward-looking budget to substantially boost support for R&D in the key identified areas of national priorities. These are also in line with the projections in the draft Science Technology and Innovation Policy 2021 put up for public consultations. This includes a total allocation of Rs 50,000 crore (€5.9 billion) over 5 years for the National Research Foundation, an autonomous body envisaged to support researchers working across several streams of S&T with special focus on universities.

The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion) to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access, and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.

India and Denmark announced the Green Strategic Partnership last year following the virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen. Following the summit, a joint statement issued listed out the core sectors of cooperation in the Green Strategic Partnership and mandated an Action Work Plan to be worked out for the next five years. In accordance with the decisions, the Danish Embassy has stationed four sector experts in the capital to liaise with the Indian authorities and give shape to the Green Strategic Partnership. Experts in the four core sectors - urbanization, water, energy and IPR - speak about how the partnership can be taken forward.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland H.E. Ms. Sanna Marin held a Virtual Summit and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral issues as well as other regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest. The two leaders reviewed the ongoing bilateral engagements and expressed their desire to further expand and diversify the relationship across sectors such as trade and investment, innovation, education, emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence, 5G/6G, and quantum computing. PM appreciated Finland’s leading role in clean and green technologies and noted the potential for Finnish companies to partner India’s drive towards sustainable development.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, apprised of the signing of MoU between India and French Republic in the field of renewable energy cooperation.  The MoU was signed in January 2021. The objective of the MoU is to establish the basis for promotion of bilateral cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy based on mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity.  It covers technologies relating to solar, wind, hydrogen, and biomass energy.

With the aim to maximise the adoption of energy efficient products and services in India, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture under the Ministry of Power, has decided to empanel Corporate Sales Agencies, Direct Sales Agencies, Dealers and Retailers and other Demand Aggregators, including ESCOs with requisite under the Success Fee Model. Through this, EESL seeks to boost and expand the sale of its various existing and new products and services in the markets.

Total corporate funding in battery energy storage came to $4.7 billion in 17 deals compared to $3.1 billion in 19 deals in Q4 2020. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, $1.3 billion was raised in venture capital funding by battery storage, smart grid, and energy efficiency companies, a 410% increase from the $252 million raised in the same quarter last year, according to a recent report. It added that total corporate funding in battery energy storage came to $4.7 billion in 17 deals compared to $3.1 billion in 19 deals in Q4 2020. “Funding was up significantly YoY compared to $244 million in nine deals in Q1 2020,” said consulting firm in its report .

Prime Minister said, that India is on track to achieving its climate goals well before the target date as it switches over to energy-efficient mediums and uses waste to generate energy. Speaking after accepting the 2021 CERAWeek Global Energy & Environment Leadership Award for his commitment to energy sustainability and the environment, Modi said climate change and calamity are major challenges facing the world. Both are interlinked, and one way to fight them is through policies, laws, rules, and orders, and the other is bringing behavioral change, he said, listing measures taken by his government for sustainable energy usage.