Policy Update
Mansi Tirthani
Background
Despite having the world’s third largest share of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) doctorates, India’s scientific ecosystem has long faced challenges. From financial disbursements to core research, at global level many common comparative indicators have remained stagnant. For over a decade, India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) hovered between 0.6% and 0.7% of its GDP.
Even at the national level the research trajectory has remained asymmetric. Approximately 90% of central Research and Development (R&D) funding historically flowed into premier Indian institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and central laboratories. Whereas state universities and affiliated colleges which educate 95% of India’s higher education student population remained fundamentally starved of basic research infrastructure.
Thus in 2023 to bridge these structural gaps, the Government of India enacted the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) Act. The ANRF was established as an apex body, designed to provide high level strategic direction, democratize research funding and transition the nation toward a structured knowledge economy. It is also guided by the mandate of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The existing Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) was subsumed into the ANRF in order to consolidate the resources and streamline executive workflows.
Functioning
The ANRF operates through a formal governance structure which is intended to deliver ministerial coordination and public-private partnerships. It is governed by two primary tiers:
The Governing Body, which has the Prime Minister of India as ex-officio member with the Union Ministers of Science and Technology and Education serving as Vice-Presidents. It consists of global academicians and industrialists ensuring long term vision and alignment with national priorities.
Another wing is the Executive Council that is chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India who is tasked to implement policies, evaluate grant applications and manage the most crucial part of fund disbursement.
The Financial Allotment (2023–2028)
The ANRF is backed by a financial target of Rs.50,000 crore over five years from 2023 to 2028. The capitalization intentionally departs from standard public-sector financing models by depending on external markets.
| Funding From | Target Amount | Percentage of Share | Source |
| Exchequer Budgetary Support | ₹14,000 crore | 28% | Central Government Appropriations |
| Non-Governmental Mobilization | ₹36,000 crore | 72% | Private sector, Philanthropies, PSUs and International Bodies |
To boost private engagement, the government has complemented the foundation by introducing the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, featuring Rs.1 lakh crore fund. The RDI scheme operates alongside the ANRF to provide long-term with low or nil interest financing to push corporate and start-up investment in sunrise sectors.
Global Comparative Landscape
To deeply evaluate the structural framework of the ANRF, India’s R&D metrics have been placed alongside global benchmarks. As noted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the OECD, the global innovation ecosystems scale efficiently only when public investment acts as a catalyst for private capital, sadly this is a trend where India currently displays an inverse layout.
| Figure 2. Global R&D Benchmarks Source:World Bank and OECD |
India sees a corporate funding inversion. Means that in the major technological giants like the US and China, the private sector is the primary source that drives innovation by funding margins over 60% to 80% of national R&D expenditures. But in India, the state acts as the dominant source of funding with 63%, largely leaving behind corporate R&D underrepresented at just 37%.
Which also leads to a deficit in per-capita human capital. India holds a large volume of scientists, but its density of researchers per million citizens (260) remains extraordinarily low. This represents less than 6% of American density and 3% of South Korean density which in turn leaves the country exposed to major structural bottlenecks in high-tech talent pipelines. But this R&D scenario is shifting since the implementation of the ANRF framework.
Impact
The rise in intellectual property generation is supported by ease of filing and commercialization that was enforced by the ANRF which resulted in total patent filings increasing from 24,326 to 68,000, signaling a strong shift toward proprietary commercial innovation.
The operational philosophy saw changes from input-driven basic sciences to outcome-oriented translational research. Historically, India’s research output was hampered by low conversion rates from publications to marketable IP. While India’s scientific publication volume ranks 3rd globally, its global patent percentage lagged behind. The ANRF has altered this trajectory through few programmatic interventions that were launched across 2024 and 2025:
Corporate financial partnership is embedded directly into the program design. Missions like MAHA (Mission for Advancement in High-impact Areas) focuses on multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary areas by targeting tech frontiers. Out of this major program few sub-missions include the MAHA-EV Mission (Electric Vehicle mobility), MedTech Mission, 2D Innovation Hubs and AI for Science and Engineering.
PAIR (Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research): A hub-and-spoke model designed to provide direction to existing regional research imbalances. Where Top-tier institutions (IITs/IISc) act as mentors to state public universities and transfer institutional knowledge and co-authoring peer-reviewed projects.
Advanced Research Grant (ARG): Replaces traditional funding by extending project lengths up to five years using a 3+1+1 model. Funding extensions past year three are contingent upon performance scorecards that are evaluated via real-time digital dashboards tracking patents and prototype readiness.
Targeted research grants have been deployed directly into deep-tech domains like quantum communications, semiconductor fabrication, and clean fuel technologies (such as Dimethyl Ether applications).
Along with this the strategic priorities of the ANRF have successfully aligned with their international partnerships that focuses on advancing India’s commitments during global semiconductor and artificial intelligence summits.
Challenges
Only 36% of India’s research expenditure of roughly ₹1.2 lakh crore came from the private sector in 2019-20, when the latest such figures were published. This is one of the reasons why India’s expenditure on R&D hovers around 0.6% of GDP, below 1-2% in comparison to countries with a stronger science and technology infrastructure, and the global average of 1.8%.
Despite its legislative and financial design there are challenges that could bottleneck the ANRF’s long-term efficacy. India’s corporate sector has historically shown deep risk aversion toward funding research. Corporate R&D spending in India represents only about 0.2% of GDP, compared to 2% in the US and Japan. The main question is whether the target of raising ₹36,000 crore from non-governmental sources is overly optimistic without explicit tax exemptions or updates to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) laws.
There is also no presence of State universities (e.g., limited research infrastructure and grant access), who the ANRF had said would be among the major beneficiaries of the new structure. Whereas Only two universities are represented in the body by the Directors of the Indian Institute of Science, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Moreover, multiple studies have pointed out that India’s bureaucracy which is marked by General Financial Rules (GFR) show delayed fund releases along with rigid procurement compliance. This frequently stifles fast-moving scientific projects. Though the ANRF introduced a ‘TSA Hybrid Model’ for smoother funding the institutional friction at the state level still remains high.
Few academicians are concerned that India’s present R&D policy focuses on translational research whereas industry alignment might inadvertently dry up funding for basic, curiosity-driven science (such as theoretical physics and pure mathematics).
Way Forward
To bridge the gap between India and global standards, our research outlines a three pathways to optimize the ANRF:
Decentralizing authority with an overall audit: Shift from a centralized approval system to a sector wise institutional grant framework. Under this model, validated ‘Hub’ institutions receive multi-year autonomy over disbursements which will minimize administrative delays. Performance must be measured by the percentage of funds successfully diverted to state public universities and tier-2/tier-3 colleges via programs like PAIR (Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research), rather than centralizing funds within the traditional top $10\%$ elite institutions (IITs/IISc).
Introduce R&D tax deductions: Mirroring early industrialization models used by South Korea and Singapore, the government should provide an aggressive tax offset for corporate funding that can go directly into ANRF-approved basic science and state university laboratories.
Integrate R&D with Production Linked Incentives (PLI): Corporate incentives earned under the national PLI manufacturing schemes shall be re-invested into public research to sustain long-term supply-chain localization.
Launch the ‘Reverse Brain Drain’ Diaspora Fellowship/Program: Scale up programs like the Ramanujan Fellowship under a unified ANRF while offering competitive, international-grade compensation packages and guaranteed long-term infrastructure funding to attract top-tier global Indian scientists back to domestic labs.
References
- Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023, No. 25 of 2023, Gazette of India (Extr.). Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/NRF.pdf
- Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF). (2024). Operational guidelines and programmatic frameworks for MAHA and PAIR schemes. Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. https://anrfonline.in/
- Gupta, A., & Kalyanaraman, S. (2026). What is impact? Generating dividends of economic growth and societal benefits from research and innovation. Anusandhan National Research Foundation Working Paper. Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB). https://serb.gov.in/assets/pdf/Impact_Whitepaper_June2026.pdf
- Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2020). National Education Policy 2020. Government of India.
- National Science Board. (2025). Science and engineering indicators 2026: Global overview of research and development expenditures. National Science Foundation.
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2025). Main science and technology indicators (MSTI) database. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/msti-data-en
- Prasad, J. P., Lakhotia, S. C., & Gupta, S. (2024). The National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill 2023 – The ‘what’ and the ‘how’?. IndiaBioscience Columns. https://indiabioscience.org/columns/indian-scenario/the-national-research-foundation-bill-2023-the-what-and-the-how
- PRS Legislative Research. (2023). The Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023: Bill summary and analytical framework. https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-anusandhan-national-research-foundation-bill-2023
- Sharma, R., & Kumar, A. (2024). Fostering a culture of research and innovation under NEP 2020: Implications for Indian higher education. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), 11(1), 125-132. https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2401017.pdf
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (2025). Global Innovation Index 2025.
About the Author
Mansi Tirthani is the recipient of the National Award by the President of India for her contributions to community services. She has been Indian Youth Ambassador to China by Government of India to analyse startup and innovation ecosystem. Currently serves with the Research and Editorial team with a renowned policy think tank, where her work centers on evidence-based governance and policies analysis. With a strong commitment to advancing gender equity and welfare governance, she brings together rigorous data analysis, strategic communication and development to impact research and policy
Acknowledgement
The author extends sincere thanks to Pallavi, Kevin and the IMPRI team for their guidance.
Disclaimer
All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
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