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Gross expenditure on research and development rose from ₹1,32,567.01 crore, or 0.66% of GDP, in 2019-20 to ₹2,44,767.81 crore, or 0.84% of GDP, in 2023-24, as per the DST's Research & Development Statistics 2025-26.
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation, established under the Department of Science and Technology, provides strategic direction for research across the sciences and runs the MAHA and PAIR programmes; a Research, Development and Innovation Fund with a ₹1 lakh crore corpus over six years is to catalyse private investment in sunrise and strategic sectors.
India has more than 2.40 lakh DPIIT-recognised startups, over half of them from Tier-II and Tier-III cities; it ranks third globally in scientific publications and sixth in patent filings.
India's Global Innovation Index rank improved from 81st in 2015 to 38th in 2025.
The INSPIRE Programme supported 49,805 students under INSPIRE-MANAK, 24,276 under INSPIRE-SHE, 3,364 INSPIRE Fellowships and 477 Faculty Fellowships in 2025-26; the government stated that INSPIRE-SHE has not been shelved but is under redesign.
Seed, grow and promote research and development and foster a culture of research across universities, colleges, research institutions and R&D laboratories, with greater private-sector participation
Key: Established under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023, which repealed the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008 and dissolved SERB. Its estimated cost is ₹50,000 crore over 2023-28, the Department of Science and Technology is its administrative department, and its Governing Board is led by the Prime Minister as ex-officio President with the Ministers of Science and Technology and of Education as Vice-Presidents. Its programmes include MAHA missions in electric vehicles, advanced materials, medical technologies, AI for science and engineering, critical raw materials, drones, water and societal innovations, and the PAIR hub-and-spoke programme for university research.
Catalyse private-sector investment in sunrise and strategic sectors
Key: A corpus of ₹1 lakh crore over six years. Sectors identified include energy security, climate action, deep-tech, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, digital agriculture and the digital economy.
Strengthen the science, technology and innovation ecosystem and build R&D infrastructure in academic institutions
Key: An operationalised DST scheme delivering through FIST (Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure), PURSE (Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence), SAIF (Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities) and SATHI (Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institutes), which provide shared access to advanced instrumentation for researchers and startups.
Nurture scientific talent at every stage of the academic and research pipeline
Key: Four components run by DST: INSPIRE MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) for students aged 10-17 in Classes VI-XII; INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) for students aged 17-22 in natural and basic sciences, with 12,000 scholarships a year of ₹80,000 each; INSPIRE Fellowship for full-time PhD work for up to five years; and INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers generally aged 27-32, for five years.
Support the innovation lifecycle from idea to prototype to commercialisation
Key: NIDHI (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations) is run by DST; Startup India by DPIIT; the Atal Innovation Mission by NITI Aayog since 2016; BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) by the Department of Biotechnology; and TIDE (Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs) by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Foster bio-entrepreneurship and high-performance biomanufacturing
Key: The Department of Biotechnology's Biotechnology Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (Bio-RIDE) scheme adds Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry components, working alongside the BioE3 policy for high-performance biomanufacturing.
Raise women's participation and retention in science, and strengthen state-level innovation ecosystems
Key: WISE-KIRAN — Women in Science and Engineering-Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing — is a DST programme; the State Science and Technology Programme provides grant-in-aid to State S&T Councils for Centre-State collaboration.
Apex body for strategic direction of research, innovation and entrepreneurship across natural and mathematical sciences, engineering, earth sciences, health, agriculture and the scientific interfaces of the humanities and social sciences
India's largest R&D organisation, running mission-mode programmes across strategic sectors, agriculture and biotechnology, chemicals, infrastructure, environment, energy, healthcare and advanced materials; it uses Business Development Groups at laboratory and headquarters level for technology transfer and licensing
Created by the Department of Biotechnology by subsuming 14 autonomous institutions; BRIC-National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi hosted the Vigyan TECH exhibition on National Technology Day 2026
Promotes development and commercialisation of indigenous technology and adaptation of imported technology for wider application
GERD is the standard international comparator for research intensity, and India's has historically been low relative to major economies, with an unusually large government share and a small private one. The reply reports GERD rising from ₹1,32,567.01 crore, or 0.66% of GDP, in 2019-20 to ₹2,44,767.81 crore, or 0.84% of GDP, in 2023-24 — an increase in absolute terms of roughly 85% and in intensity of about a fifth. That gap between absolute and proportional growth is the entire policy problem: because GDP itself grew, spending must rise faster than the economy for the ratio to move. This explains the design of the ₹1 lakh crore RDI Fund, which is aimed at catalysing private-sector R&D rather than adding to government spending, since it is the private share that most distinguishes India's GERD from that of research-intensive economies.
Simple Analogy: Doubling the amount you save does not raise your savings rate if your income also doubles — GERD as a share of GDP is the savings rate, not the amount saved.
ANRF was recommended by NEP 2020, which is why an apex research funding body traces its origin to an education policy rather than a science policy.
ANRF absorbed the Science and Engineering Research Board, a pattern repeated across government — BRIC subsuming 14 DBT institutes is the biotechnology equivalent.
That over half of 2.40 lakh recognised startups come from Tier-II and Tier-III cities is the standard evidence used in answers about the geographic spread of India's innovation economy.
Published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the GII rank of 38th in 2025 out of 139 economies is the index most often quoted in Mains answers on India's innovation capacity.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology: Developments and their Applications; Indigenisation of Technology
General Awareness > Science, Government Schemes and Indices
General Awareness > Current Affairs
Research funding bodies, INSPIRE and the Global Innovation Index recur in Prelims and are standing GS3 Mains material
Gross Expenditure on Research and Development — India's stood at 0.84% of GDP in 2023-24, up from 0.66% in 2019-20.
ANRF's Mission for Advancement in High-Impact Areas, covering electric vehicles, advanced materials, medical technologies, AI for science, critical raw materials, drones, water and societal innovations.
Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research — ANRF's hub-and-spoke programme to build research capacity in universities.
Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge — the school component of INSPIRE for students aged 10-17.
Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institutes, which give researchers and startups shared access to high-end instrumentation under Vigyan Dhara.
Work that carries laboratory findings into deployable products — the gap CSIR's Innovation Complex at Mumbai is intended to bridge.