Parmelin puts a further 45 million francs on the Indo-Swiss research file

Swiss President Guy Parmelin told India's science minister on Tuesday that Bern has set aside a further 45 million Swiss francs for the joint research partnership, and that he expects a matching commitment from New Delhi. The meeting was with Jitendra Singh, minister of state for science and technology and earth sciences, on the second day of Parmelin's state visit.

Two instruments were finalised in the room. One is a letter of intent between the Swiss National Science Foundation and India's Department of Science and Technology. The other is an implementation agreement between the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and the same Indian department. Singh also welcomed work toward an Indo-Swiss Research Framework and an Indo-Swiss Joint Scientific Board, which he said would give the file a longer structure than a string of one-off grants.

The 45 million francs is the new number. It is additional money on a partnership that has a written base in the 2003 inter-governmental science and technology agreement. That agreement produced the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme. The fields now named on both sides are quantum technology, artificial intelligence, clean technology, renewable energy, ocean research, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, biomedical work, pandemic preparedness and space. Singh added biotechnology, vaccine development, genome sequencing and deep-ocean research, and he mentioned the blue economy and the bio-economy as places where the two sides could put joint projects.

Parmelin called India a rapidly emerging research power and said Switzerland wanted to be a long-term partner in education, research and innovation. He did not publish a project list against the 45 million. Singh did not announce an Indian rupee figure in reply. The Swiss line was an expectation of a corresponding commitment, not a signed match. Until the Department of Science and Technology puts a number next to the Swiss one, the 45 million is a unilateral earmark.

The visit already had a trade and visa file. On Monday, Parmelin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed five agreements, including a migration pact with multiple-entry visas of up to five years and a young-professionals scheme. Modi also named defence production and nuclear energy as areas of cooperation. Tuesday's science meeting is a different instrument. A visa cap and a research board do not spend the same money, and they do not fail for the same reason.

The institutional point is the board. A joint scientific board, if it is actually seated, would be the place where the 45 million and any Indian match get turned into calls, peer review and reports. The letter of intent with the Swiss National Science Foundation is the nearer step. SNSF is the Swiss grant agency. A letter of intent is not a call for proposals. It is a commitment to write one. The Zurich University of Applied Sciences agreement is narrower: one campus, one Indian department, an implementation text. That is the piece most likely to produce a named lab or a student exchange before the board exists.

Singh said artificial intelligence was being treated as a tool across disciplines rather than as a separate subject. That is a budget choice. If AI is a method inside quantum, health and ocean projects, it does not need its own line. If it becomes a line, it will compete with the deep-ocean and vaccine work he also named. The Swiss earmark does not say which of those wins.

The 2003 agreement is the reason this is not a first meeting. Two decades of joint calls have already put Indian and Swiss groups in the same labs. What has been missing, on Singh's account, is a standing board and a regular working arrangement for follow-up. The 45 million francs is the Swiss offer to fund that next stage. The open item is the Indian number, and the date of the first call under the new letter of intent.