27 Research Development Fund (RDF) and Department Development Fund (DDF) rules
IITB RDF DDF, research development fund, department development fund, IITB fund rules
The Institute incentivizes faculty to pursue extramural R&D funding by ploughing a portion (15% at the time of writing) of the overheads from sponsored projects back into the Principal Investigators’ Research Development Fund (RDF); unspent funds in private industry funded projects or consulting projects may also be moved into the RDF account at the time of closing, with the requisite approvals. Thus, there is an RDF account for every faculty member in the IRCC website (Drona), which practically runs like an open-ended project account. Details are available here. The Institute deposits ₹ 1,00,000 each year into each faculty’s RDF account. The money in your RDF can be used for attending conferences, paying for publishing charges, patenting charges, purchase of laptops, etc.
Updates from 2025–26 circulars
- IRITPP has been merged with RDF. IRCC maintains a document listing the activities and purchases that are allowed (and some that are not) through RDF.
- Items that border on personal use must be accompanied by a note from the PI on the purpose of the purchase and its relevance to the project/lab, forwarded through the HoD of the project department to the Dean (R&D), using IRCC’s “Justification Template for Borderline Personal Items”. The PI should give details such as location of use and the overall guest list (for meals). IRCC Accounts processes the bill after the Dean (R&D)’s approval. The same procedure applies to consultancy and government-sponsored projects.
- Faculty members can buy headphones/AirPods through RDF once in 3 years.
- PCs, laptops and mobile phones for professional use can be bought from RDF once every three years, with effect from 1 April 2026.
- The Institute processes an IP application only with the commercialization information template filed alongside it. After a PI’s first 5 IP applications, a one-time deduction of 10% of costs (about ₹20,000) applies once a patent or IP is granted, taken from the ₹1 lakh transferred to RDF each financial year under the IRITPP merger.
- The RDF project end date is set at the faculty member’s superannuation date. On superannuation, IRCC closes the RDF after deducting IRCC expenses/contribution, and any unspent balance is transferred 50% to DDF and 50% to IRCC.
- Exceptional procurement for project-related expenses from RDF needs the approval of the HoD and the Dean (R&D).
Sources: IRCC faculty notices, 14.08.2025: “Utilization of RDF” and “Procedure for purchase of items bordering personal use”.
IRCC ploughs back another percentage (again, 15% at the time of writing) of the overheads from sponsored projects back into a Departmental Development Fund (DDF). The funds therein are intended to be utilized by the Head of the academic unit for departmental needs, usually in the nature of Consumables, Maintenance, and Travel – these could range from teaching lab consumables and maintenance to student conference travel support.