Both projects were overseen by the Defense Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) of India, which had begun in 1958 with a specialization in anti-tank missiles but expanded in subsequent years.
[4] In June 1972, DRDL received ₹160 million (equivalent to ₹7.2 billion or US$83 million in 2023) to fund both Project Devil and Project Valiant, though it came with a veil of secrecy; the Union Cabinet had publicly declined the funding request, but Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had granted it secretly through her discretionary powers.
DRDL also began to expand rapidly, increasing its workforce from 400 to 2,500 people in a two-year period in an effort to meet staffing needs of both the projects.
[4] In January 1975, the Indian Space Research Organisation was appointed to run an external review of Project Devil and in March 1975 found it had been successful in several areas, if not in liquid propulsion, and should be permitted to continue.
It ran for several more years before being completely discontinued in 1980, by which point DRDL had produced several components for Devil, including two solid rocket boosters with high-strength steel casings and a specific impulse of 200 seconds, and a second stage three-ton liquid-propellant engine fueled by G-fuel (a combination of Xylidiene and Tri-ethylamine), oxidized by red fuming nitric acid.