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SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LAUNCHES THE NANOTECHNOLOGY MISSION IN 
ITS ELEVENTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  001.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
Motivation for Indian Investment in Nanotechnology 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2.  (U) India being a favoured destination for knowledge process 
outsourcing (KPO) [nearly 200 of the Fortune 500 companies have set 
up R&D facilities in India], Indian industries moving up in the 
value chain though innovation, utilization of the demographic 
advantage (high percentage of youth) and India's aspiration to 
become a developed nation by 2020 and be a knowledge based economy 
have been the motivation for tripling the S&T budget to USD 18.7 
billion in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  Other factors 
which contributed to this sharp rise include inadequate funding for 
R&D as a percentage of the GDP in the earlier plan periods, aging 
S&T infrastructure and relatively poor S&T indicators. 
Nanotechnology is an important focus area of the S&T plan not only 
because of its huge market potential but also due its ability to 
address some of the key issues of health, clean water, agriculture, 
energy and environment which form the basis of the Eleventh Plan 
theme of "Inclusive Growth."  Further, India's successes in some of 
its mission-oriented programs in atomic energy and space have given 
an added impetus for launching the "Nanotechnology Mission."  The 
cumulative allocation of over USD 1 billion in the Eleventh Plan far 
exceeds the estimated Tenth Plan funding of USD 50 million. 
 
Assessment of Nanotechnology Activities in India 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  (U) Nanotechnology is a highly multidisciplinary field and 
encompasses a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines.  Hence, 
assessment of both funding and state-of-the-art becomes difficult. 
The nanotechnology effort in India can be broadly categorized in 
three areas: i) passive nanostructures (for example, protective 
coatings); ii) active nanostructures (simple devices or sensors) and 
iii) systems based on nanostructures (for example, lab on a chip). 
The efforts seemed to be predominantly focused on passive and active 
nanostructures, as expected from the relatively recent (5 years) 
funding and the trend in publications.  Limited efforts are on in 
the area of nanotechnology enabled systems (lab on chip), through 
the creation of Centres of Excellence, which are expected to serve 
as user facilities. 
 
¶4.  (U) Earlier assessments by the ESTH office as well as by 
scientists from United States (US) had given the sense that 
nanotechnology was just a buzz word here without much substance. 
However considerable ground work seems to have been done in recent 
years, culminating in the GOI gaining confidence to substantially 
increase the allocation and launching the Nanotechnology Mission. 
To assess the actual status, SciCouns and SciFSN have interacted 
with various government agencies, R&D laboratories, academic 
institutions and industry.  It looks like the relatively low funding 
for R&D by GOI in the previous Plan periods had led the labs to be 
poorly prepared for nanotechnology R&D, as reflected in the earlier 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  002.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
assessments.  However, the change seems to have been brought about 
due to the following reasons: 
 
- The information technology revolution and the availability of 
online literature; 
- Increase in funding leading to the creation of the necessary 
infrastructure for R&D and an environment for training of a large 
scientific talent pool; 
- The return of many Indian scientists trained abroad from US, 
Europe and developed Asian countries; 
- Broadening the Indian R&D efforts to include more institutions and 
not just Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of 
Science (IISc) and national labs; and 
- A serious efforts towards forming public-private partnerships. 
 
¶5.  (U) However, in spite of the enhanced funding in S&T there are 
several challenges.  During the period 2005- 2006, only 54 percent 
of the total funds allocated for development projects in the 
Department of Science and Technology (DST) were utilised.  The 
problem of not finding suitable or sufficient proposals, as well as 
qualified principal investigators (PIs) was echoed by Dr. Aiyagari 
Rao, Advisor, Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC), DST and 
Dr. Uttam of Department of Information Technology (DIT), who head 
the respective nanotechnology activities in their Departments.  But 
these problems are expected to go away once additional 
infrastructure for nanotechnology related research is built up and 
the talent pool is increased.  Also, the old bias of not funding 
private academic institutions and industries is going away and the 
GOI is moving towards enhanced public-private partnerships, greater 
accountability and time bound focused projects. 
 
¶6.  (U) Similar to the US, the Indian nanotechnology initiative is a 
multi-agency effort.  The key agencies are the DST and Department of 
Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science & Technology, and 
DIT under the Ministry of Information & Communication.  Other 
agencies which are also investing include the Council of Scientific 
Industrial Research (CSIR), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy 
(MNRE), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW), Ministry of 
Agriculture (MOA) through the Indian Council for Agricultural 
Research (ICAR), Department of Space (Indian Space Research 
Organization, ISRO), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the 
Ministry of Defense (MOD) through Defense Research and Development 
Organization (DRDO).  Thus the precise budget estimates or 
allocation for nanotechnology is difficult to estimate.  Some 
agencies have well defined outlays, while others have allocations 
for an interdisciplinary area in which nanotechnology has a key 
role, while there are agencies which have not mentioned it, even 
though they have ongoing programs.  Thus the total budget identified 
is a conservative estimate and the actual allocation could be much 
greater. 
 
Accomplishments during the Tenth Five-Year Plan 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  003.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  (U) During the Tenth Plan, GOI cumulatively invested 
approximately USD 50 million through agencies such as DST, DBT, CSIR 
and DIT.  The focus was on the creation of infrastructure for 
nanotechnology R&D.  This funding did not include investments by the 
institutes themselves in buildings, faculty salaries, overhead etc., 
but just seed grants for equipment and R&D projects.  The major 
initiatives included: 
 
- The Nano Science and Technology Initiatives (NSTI) (USD 15 
million) for materials growth, characterization and simulation 
studies; 
- The National Program for Smart Materials (NPSM) (USD 15 million) 
for MEMS and NEMS (Micro/Nano Electro Mechanical Systems); and 
- The National Microelectronic and Nanotechnology Program (NMNP) 
(USD 10 million) for design & development and possible pilot 
production capability of complete systems (lab on chip). 
 
¶8. (U) Under the NSTI program, eleven new Centres of Excellence in 
different areas of nanotechnology were established with seed 
funding.  These Centres are expected to be similar to the 
nanotechnology centres established by NSF in the US.  For example, 
IIT Mumbai and IISc Bangalore are being set up as Centres for 
Nanotechnology Fabrication by DIT with an initial grant of USD 2.5 
million.  This grant does not include the cost of buildings and 
faculty salaries.  Applied Materials, a leading US MNC, has joined 
IIT Mumbai as one of the research partners and has also donated 
advanced process equipment worth USD 7.5 million.  Inter-university 
Microelectronic Centre (IMEC), Belgium, Europe's leading 
nanotechnology research centre is collaborating with IISc Bangalore. 
 DIT plans to set up five more such centres in the Eleventh Plan. 
Prof. Ramgopal Rao, Head of the Centre at IIT Mumbai, told SciFSN 
that the facility is open to all researchers in India.  Scientists 
could send proposals for using the Centre facilities and after a 
quick peer review, if approved, they would be allowed to carry out 
experiments at the Centre.  In effect, they are developing a user 
facility model, the difference being that the user need not pay for 
the experiments and will also receive a travel grant.  Thus the 
Centre is expected to facilitate and nurture new ideas and talent in 
the domain of nanotechnology, with minimal time lag or funding 
constrains.  The NSTI program has led to funding of about 100 
projects resulting in over 20 patents and about 250 publications in 
refereed journals. 
 
¶9.  (U) The NPSM and NMNP programs involved industry, academic 
institutions and R&D labs with the goal of delivering prototypes and 
products on a fast track.  It also led to the creation of facilities 
for fabrication of complete systems (lab on chip) from 
proof-of-concept to low volume production.  The centres identified 
and developed to cater to these activities are: Semiconductor 
Complex Ltd (SCL) Chandigarh, Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  004.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
Bangalore, Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute 
(CEERI), Pilani and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology 
(CMET), Pune.  Further, the goal was to develop basic platform 
technologies, which could easily be adopted for use with different 
nanomaterials and applications.  An example is the development of a 
LPG gas sensor, which is soon expected to be used in automobiles and 
homes as a safety device.  These facility centres are now open to 
all users in India and abroad. 
 
Indian Industry Investing in Nanotechnology 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Indian industry has also sensed the future and the 
promise of nanotechnology.  Companies like Glenmark, Biocon, 
Ranbaxy, Reddys, Cipla, and Dabur in pharma domain and others like 
Tata, Reliance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Samtel, and Moser Baer to 
mention a few, are working on nanotechnology based applications. 
These companies are also developing a wide range of indigenous 
systems for process technologies.  They vary from a multiple head 
spray process assisted nanoparticle formation technology for pharma 
industry to a customized plasma process and ion assisted 
nanomaterial deposition systems for flat panel displays.  Most of 
the companies hope to double or triple their scientific staff 
working in this area and increase R&D funding.  Several, like Tata, 
are funding projects in US and European universities and recruiting 
Indian PhD students directly from US graduate schools.  During 
SciFSN's interactions with several US MNCs like HP, Intel, GE and 
Shell, it was learnt that all these companies are engaged in 
nanotechnology R&D in India. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Recently DST and National Science & Technology Management 
Information System Division (NSTMIS) of GOI have engaged the 
National Foundation of Engineers (NAFEN) to undertake a study 
entitled "Status of Nanotechnology in Indian Industry & Academia/R&D 
Labs".  SciFSN obtained this information on the on-going survey on 
industry involvement in nanotechnology from DST.  A cluster of 65 
companies and R&D institutes have invested about USD 375 million 
(inclusive of all costs).  Almost 2000 scientists are working in 
these organizations in nanotechnology. The work has already led to 
over 49 national and 18 international patents.  Further, 20 
processes have been transferred for commercialization. 
 
¶12.  (U) New clusters of start ups in the area of nanotechnology are 
also coming up in Mumbai-Pune corridor, Bangalore, Kolkata and 
Chandigarh and are expected to launch products in the market soon. 
For example, Ican-nano, a one year old a start-up in Kolkata already 
sells about 40 different nanoparticle enabled products. These 
products are already being used by industries like automobiles, 
pharma, construction, paints and packaging, in India and abroad. 
 
¶13.  (U) A clear sign of the growing nanotechnology interest in 
India is the hosting of over twenty international conferences just 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  005.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
in the past four months by government agencies, trade & industry 
organizations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and 
Industry (FICCI), The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry 
of India (ASSOCHAM) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), 
and R&D and academic institutions.  Over 1500 papers were presented 
at these conferences.  Just from the US, over 250 scientists 
participated in these meetings.  The ESTH office was involved in 
enabling some of these conferences along with Indo-US S&T Forum and 
the Indian industry organizations. 
 
Strategy and Framework for Nanotechnology Investments 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶14.  (U) The broad framework for implementation of the Indian S&T 
activities in the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12) including the 
"Nanotechnology Mission" was prepared by a committee headed by Dr. R 
Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of 
India.  The committee had experts from diverse scientific 
disciplines from industry, R&D labs, academia and representatives 
from the various ministries.  As mentioned earlier, this envisages 
an investment of about USD 18.7 billion.  The plan outlay is only a 
broad guideline for implementation.  Budget allocations can change 
on an annual basis based on the progress or change in the 
requirements during the execution of the projects.  While the office 
of the PSA has formulated the S&T outlay for the Eleventh Plan 
including the Nanotechnology Mission, participating ministries are 
free to vary the allocations in their annual budgets.  As an 
example, Dr. Phadke, Advisor in DIT, said that in the 2006-07 
budget, the initial allocation for nanotechnology was USD 4.56 
million.  But as good progress was made, funding was increased and 
the actual amount spent was USD 11.4 million. 
¶15.  (U) Commenting on the initiative, Dr. CNR Rao, an acclaimed 
chemist, who wears multiple hats as the Chairperson of the GOI 
Nanotechnology Mission and Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory 
Committee to the Prime Minister of India said "Though India may have 
missed many a technology bus over the decades, we cannot afford to 
miss the nano bus, as it is the future of the world, dominating 
science and technology in the 21st century".  Dr. T. Ramasami, 
Secretary DST, told SciOffs that "Research expertise in India is 
 
SIPDIS 
available at one-third the cost of developed countries. Hence global 
R&D institutes and companies in nanoscience and nanotechnology would 
outsource their requirements from the young scientists and 
technologists in India.  The present Nanotechnology Mission would 
further facilitate that." 
Nanotechnology Mission 2007-2012 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  (U) Having developed a reasonable level of confidence from the 
results of the Nanotechnology initiative under the Tenth Plan, the 
GOI has embarked on the more ambitious "Nanotechnology Misson".  As 
discussed earlier in para 6, the multiple agencies' involvement in 
the Nanotechnology Mission and the interdisciplinary nature of the 
technology makes it difficult to estimate the exact amount of the 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  006.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
planned investment.  Further, multiple agencies have also some 
duplication in programs with variations in focus or applications. 
Some departments have well-defined outlays, while others have broad 
allocations and in some cases, we have no information.  Thus the 
nanotechnology budget outlay discussed below may be considered as a 
conservative estimate of the scale of investment but the seriousness 
of intent is obvious.  This is an opportunity for engagement not to 
be missed. 
 
¶17.  (U) DST, as a nodal agency, has a program under the 
Nanotechnology Mission for USD 255 million in the Eleventh Plan. 
Under this program the key focus would be on funding basic research 
including study of risks associated with nanotechnology, carrying 
out extensive training programs to encourage more scientists to take 
up activities in this area, and enable collaboration with industries 
and foreign countries.  The other key players like DIT have an 
outlay of USD 63.3 million towards strengthening the existing 
Centres of Excellence and creating new ones related to the 
development of nanoelectronics.  DBT has a budget of USD 31.6 
million.  The focus is towards nanotechnology enabled products in 
the health domain in collaboration with industries.  The CSIR (a 
consortium of 38 national labs), out of its total outlay of USD 4.5 
billion, plans to spend approximately USD 1.03 billion on a Centre 
of Excellence in Metrology, electronic materials, biotechnology, 
food processing industry, solar energy, chemical process 
technologies, and pharma and drugs.  Even if 20 percent of this were 
for nanotechnology, it would amount to approximately USD 200 
million.  The MNRE has a budget outlay of about USD 755 million for 
fuel cells, solar cells & LED based lighting development. 
Nanomaterials are expected to play a significant role in these 
applications.  Other departments like Health, Defence, Space, Atomic 
Energy, Agriculture and HRD have not delineated specific amounts in 
nanotechnology.  Thus even the most conservative estimate of the 
funding for nanotechnology related activities is expected to touch 
USD 1 billion in the Eleventh Plan. 
 
¶18.  (U) In addition, the DST has a separate fund of about USD 2 
billion for the creation of an autonomous body, The National Science 
& Engineering Research Foundation, similar to NSF, three National 
Nanotechnology Institutions, six Indian Institutes for Science 
Education and Research (IISER) and six National Institutes for 
Pharmacy Education and Research (NIPER).  This fund also has 
provision for nanotechnology related research fellowships. 
 
International Collaborations 
---------------------------- 
 
¶19.  (U) The GOI is also actively encouraging international 
collaborations to draw on external expertise.  Memoranda of 
Understanding (MOUs) have been signed with Israel, Australia, 
Germany, UK, China, Japan and European Union (EU).  Most of these 
countries have a 50:50 funding strategy for joint projects.  For 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  007.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration among laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
example, EU has funded 80 projects under its Nanotechnology 
Initiative [2003-2006] with Indian partners.  The Indian partners 
received about USD 16 million of the total project funding of USD 
365 million.  During the Indo-EU Nanotechnology meeting in March 
2007, Dr. Nicholas Deliyanakis, EU Director General of Research, 
mentioned in his presentation that funding for Indo-EU joint 
projects in nanotechnology will be doubled during the period 
2007-2013. 
 
Ongoing Activities between US and India 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶20.  (U) The ESTH office is actively involved in facilitating 
interactions between visiting US scientists and faculty and their 
counterparts in India to enhance collaboration activities in 
nanotechnology.  For example, Dr. Shyam Sunder from the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the US Department of 
Commerce recently visited CSIR.  He was encouraged by SciCouns to 
increase NIST involvement in the HTCG, which oversees the 
nanotechnology interactions between the two countries.  In this 
regard, ESTH office played a role in India's participation (with a 
three member delegation) at a bilateral meeting with the US 
nanotechnology delegation on the sidelines of the recent 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting 
held in November 2007 in Paris.  The Indian delegation expressed 
interest in co-operation in the areas of risk assessment/management 
related to nanomaterials and metrology related activities.  In 
addition, DST officials have also visited NSF during 2007.  A 
NSF-funded workshop and a review of Indian nanotechnology activities 
was held in Chennai, India from January 10-13, 2008.  The meeting 
also attempted to look at future areas of cooperation.  Dr. CNR Rao, 
Chairperson of the Nanotechnology Mission, inaugurated the workshop. 
ESTH office also recently arranged a meeting between the Presidents 
of the Indian and US Engineering Academies in December 2007.  The 
two academies have agreed to look at joint efforts in nanotechnology 
and a follow-up meeting is planned in mid-2008 in India. 
 
Comment 
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¶21.  (SBU) With the launch of the Nanotechnology Mission and the 
commitment of close to USD 1 billion during the Eleventh Five-Year 
Plan (2007-2012), GOI has sent a clear message that it is serious 
about its interest in nanotechnology.  The current focus on 
developing centres of excellence in several specialised areas and 
the access to these facilities for a large pool of scientists and 
entrepreneurs could lead to affordable nanotechnology-enabled 
products in the near future.  The investment is expected to start 
showing tangible results during the next three to five years.  This 
scenario offers a unique opportunity for the US to re-engage and 
partner with India in this critical technology.  Further, the US, as 
a leader in nanotechnology, by engaging with India at this juncture 
 
NEW DELHI 00000433  008.2 OF 008 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The Government of India (GOI) in its recent 
National Development Council (NDC) meeting has approved a Science 
and Technology (S&T) budget of approximately USD 18.7 billion in the 
Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).  This is a three-fold increase 
over its Tenth Plan allocation of USD 5.9 billion.  Nanotechnology 
finds a prominent place in the Plan with a cumulative allocation 
expected to touch USD 1.0 billion.  The areas of focus in this 
technology area include biotechnology, pharma, agriculture, energy 
and manufacturing.  The emphasis is on a multi-pronged approach that 
includes creation of a research & development (R&D) infrastructure 
for nanotechnology and workforce development, focused time bound 
networked projects (collaboration amon laboratories, academic 
institutions and industries) with public-private partnership, and 
enhanced international collaborations.  During the Tenth Plan 
period, considerable ground work has been done with an investment of 
approximately USD 50 million by the GOI.  Nanotechnology related 
activities seem to have now gathered momentum in India, unlike the 
earlier perception of more talk and less focus and action.  Indian 
industries have also started investing in this domain.  The enhanced 
level of activities is obvious from the number of international 
conferences, collaborations and products in the market.  The ESTH 
office has been actively interacting with various government 
agencies, laboratories, academic institutions and industries to 
assess the level of development and investment and to facilitate 
interaction.  The time is ripe for the USG to re-engage with India 
under the auspices of the High Technology Coordination Group (HTCG) 
and develop a mutually beneficial partnership in an area which will 
probably have the greatest technological impact in the 21st century. 
 End Summary. 
 
could help and ensure India develop safe and sustainable 
technologies and practices in this area.  This would be especially 
beneficial in the burgeoning economic partnership between the two 
countries. 
 
MULFORD