Indian Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at a press conference in New Delhi, India, Nov. 12, 2020. The minister Thursday announced a grant of over 120.6 million U.S. dollars for the research and development of COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

Indian Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday announced a grant of over 120.6 million US dollars for the research and development of COVID-19 vaccine.

The announcement came during the spelling out of the third stimulus for the revival of economy in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Rupees 900 crore (120.6 million US dollars) provided for COVID-19 Suraksha (prevention) Mission for Research and Development of Indian COVID-19 vaccine to department of Biotechnology," Sitharaman said.

At present three COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in different stages of human clinical trials in India.

The government also approved over 2 billion US dollars financial outlay to incentivize the global and domestic players to engage in high-value production of pharmaceutical drugs.