Recognising research as a core requisite for quality education, National Education Policy (NEP 2020) exhorts Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to focus on research and innovation by setting up start-up incubation centres, technology development centres, centres in frontier areas of research, greater industry-academic linkages and interdisciplinary research including humanities and social sciences research.

Further, the Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) in the country has been consistently increasing over the years and has more than doubled from Rs. 60,196.75 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 1,27,380.96 crore in 2020-21. The Government has also sanctioned Rs. 99,494.24 crore during the last five years (FY 2020-21 to 2025-26) for premier technical educational institutions such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for teaching, research and innovation. Broadly, research activities in these Higher Education Institutions cover areas such as Healthcare & Medtech, Advanced Computing (Supercomputing, AI, and Quantum Computing), Semiconductor, Advanced Materials, Rareearth & Critical Minerals, Space & Defence and Blue Economy etc.

During the past decade, India's research ecosystem has gained significant global recognition, as reflected in the following achievements:

(i) Improvement in India's rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in 2015 to 38th in 2025.

(ii) Ranking 3rd globally in terms of total Science and Engineering publications in 2022, compared to 7th in 2010, as per the National Science Foundation (NSF), United States.

(iii) Ranking 6th globally in the number of patent applications in 2022, improving from 8th position in 2013, as per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

(iv) Ranking 3rd globally in terms of the number of Ph.Ds. awarded in Science and Engineering, as reported in Research and Development Statistics at a Glance 2022–23.

To further strengthen the research ecosystem, the Government launched Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme in 2018-19, to attract the best minds to pursue high - quality research in India's premier academic institutions, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 1,650 Crores. The scheme was launched to attract the best and brightest minds to pursue high – quality research in India’s premier academic institutions with enhanced financial support which includes fellowship and research grant. Under PMRF, 3,688 scholars have been admitted.

Further, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) was established by the ANRF Act 2023 in February, 2024 with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crores to provide high level strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of science and technology with the provision of substantive share of budget contribution from private sector. The Government has also launched the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme on November 3, 2025, a Rs 1-lakh-crore initiative, representing a significant move to strengthen India’s research and development landscape.

Research Fellowship/scholarship schemes like NET-JRF are implemented by UGC to provide opportunities to scholars to undertake advanced studies and research leading to Ph.D. In addition, fellowships are also offered by different Ministries and Organizations to support the scholars pursuing PhD. Special fellowships are provided for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Persons with Disabilities and Single Girl Child. The Ph.D. scholars are eligible to join research projects sanctioned by various funding agencies to the Universities and to avail of funding to support their research, leading to the award of a Ph.D.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

*****

RRTN

(रिलीज़ आईडी: 2295011) आगंतुक पटल : 104