Scheme for assistance for Research & Development Activities: Assistance to Establish Research & Development/Product Development Centre

What is the Gujarat R&D and Product Development Centre assistance?

The Scheme for assistance for Research & Development Activities is a scheme of the Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat, notified by Government Resolution GID-102020-327060-G dated 1 September 2020 under the Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020. The policy window ran from 7 August 2020 to 6 August 2025.

The scheme's first component: Assistance to Establish a Research & Development or Product Development Centre: is capital support for an enterprise or institution that wants to build its own laboratory or design centre to improve products, processes and working operations. According to the Industries Commissionerate, the assistance is up to 30% of the investment in plant and machinery, equipment including hardware and software, and related other assets, subject to a ceiling of Rs 5 crore during the period of the scheme.

Gujarat's reasoning is straightforward. The state has deep manufacturing in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering, ceramics and textiles, but much of it has historically been process-following rather than product-creating. Paying part of the equipment bill for an in-house R&D centre lowers the entry cost of moving up that value chain.

The four components of the R&D scheme

1. Assistance to establish an R&D or product development centre; up to 30% of investment in plant, machinery, equipment, hardware and software, maximum Rs 5 crore.
2. Assistance for contract or sponsored research work: up to 50% of project cost excluding land and building, maximum Rs 50 lakh during the operative period.
3. Assistance to R&D institutions or laboratories set up by the state or central government: assistance decided on the merits of each proposal by the State Level supported Committee.
4. Assistance to industrial associations for establishing R&D laboratories, up to 60% of the cost of machinery and equipment, maximum Rs 5 crore.

Who is eligible for the R&D centre assistance?

These applicants can apply:

• Companies and industrial units registered and operating in Gujarat that propose to set up an in-house R&D or product development centre.
• Institutions, professional bodies and industrial associations recognised by CSIR or DSIR, or holding provisional approval from them.
• AICTE-approved professional colleges undertaking sponsored or contract research, under the second component of the scheme.
• Industrial associations registered under the applicable law that wish to build a shared laboratory for their member units, under the fourth component.

These applicants are not eligible:

• Individual researchers, scientists, students and PhD scholars cannot apply. There is no personal grant, fellowship or stipend under this scheme; the applicant must be a legal entity that will own the centre.
• Proposals that consist mainly of land and building cost, which is expressly outside the eligible investment.
• Entities without CSIR or DSIR recognition or provisional approval, since recognition is the gate the appraisal turns on.
• Centres proposed to be set up outside Gujarat, however Gujarati the parent company may be.
• Expenditure already funded under another central or state scheme, because the same equipment cannot be subsidised twice.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the R&D centre assistance

1. Obtain CSIR or DSIR recognition, or at least provisional approval, for the R&D unit. This step takes the longest, so begin it before anything else.
2. Prepare the Detailed Project Report. Set out the research programme, the equipment and software to be bought with quotations, the scientific manpower to be hired, the timeline and the products or processes expected to come out of the centre.
3. Register on the Investor Facilitation Portal at ifp.gujarat.gov.in if your entity is not already registered, since Gujarat routes investor and incentive interactions through this single window.
4. Submit the proposal to the District Industries Centre in the prescribed format with the DPR and all annexures, and collect the inward acknowledgement.
5. Let the file travel upward. The District Industries Centre reviews the proposal and forwards it to the Industries Commissionerate, which places it before the State Level supported Committee (SLEC) for approval.
6. Answer the appraisal queries on cost, recognition status and research plan promptly; unanswered queries are the commonest reason a file sits still.
7. Claim after execution. Once the centre is set up, file the claim with invoices, payment proof and a chartered accountant's certificate of the eligible investment actually made, and the sanctioned assistance is released.

How much money does an R&D centre actually receive?

The arithmetic is capped twice. First by the 30% rate, then by the Rs 5 crore ceiling. An entity investing Rs 4 crore in eligible plant, machinery, equipment, hardware and software would be looking at Rs 1.2 crore of assistance. An entity investing Rs 20 crore would compute Rs 6 crore at 30% but receive Rs 5 crore because of the ceiling.

The ceiling applies for the period of the scheme, not per year and not per claim. An entity that draws Rs 5 crore on its first centre has exhausted the component. Land, building construction, civil work, salaries and recurring consumables are outside the eligible investment, so a proposal that leans on construction cost will shrink sharply during appraisal.

How to check the status of an R&D proposal

1. Note the inward number on the acknowledgement issued by the District Industries Centre.
2. Follow up with the DIC first, since the file starts there, quoting the inward number and the name of the applicant entity.
3. For files already forwarded, write to iccord@gujarat.gov.in or call the Industries Commissionerate on 079-23252683 or 079-23252617.
4. For anything filed through ifp.gujarat.gov.in, sign in and open the application dashboard, or call the toll free line 1800 233 1847 between 10:30 am and 6:10 pm on working days.

Why R&D proposals get rejected

• No CSIR or DSIR recognition and no provisional approval on record.
• Land and building cost loaded into the eligible investment, which is struck off during appraisal.
• Vague research programme in the DPR, with equipment listed but no defined product or process outcome.
• Double funding, where the same equipment has been claimed under a central scheme or another Gujarat incentive.
• Applicant is an individual rather than a company, institution or association, which fails the basic eligibility test.
• Claim filed without a chartered accountant's certificate of actual eligible investment, so the disbursement cannot be computed.

Key dates

• 1 September 2020 — GR GID-102020-327060-G notifying the Scheme for assistance for Research & Development Activities.
• 7 August 2020 to 6 August 2025, operative window of the Gujarat Industrial Policy 2020 under which the resolution was issued.
• 5 October 2022. The Aatmanirbhar Gujarat resolutions were notified; confirm with the Commissionerate which resolution now governs an R&D proposal filed today.

An earlier version of the same scheme, listed separately on the Industries Commissionerate site, ran for the operative period 2015 to 2019 with assistance of up to 60% of machinery and equipment cost for laboratories set up by industrial associations and up to 50% of project cost capped at Rs 50 lakh for contract research. Old sanction letters from that period should be read against that resolution, not the 2020 one.

Help and grievance redressal

• Industries Commissionerate, Gujarat, Block No. 1, 2nd Floor, Udyog Bhavan, Gandhinagar 382 010; 079-23252683 / 079-23252617; iccord@gujarat.gov.in.
• Investor Facilitation Portal, ifp.gujarat.gov.in, toll free 1800 233 1847, with an online grievance and query form.
• District Industries Centre, the office that receives the proposal and the right place to escalate delays first.

No fee is payable to any government office for submitting an R&D proposal, and no agent can secure a sanction from the State Level supported Committee.