NITI Aayog Report on Ease of Doing Research & Development

The NITI Aayog Report on “Ease of Doing Research & Development” highlights the current challenges in India’s research ecosystem and suggests a wide range of reforms to improve funding, governance, and human resources in R&D.

NITI Aayog Report on “Ease of Doing Research & Development” Key Highlights

The NITI Aayog’s “Ease of Doing Research & Development” report highlights deep structural, financial, and human resource challenges in India’s R&D ecosystem along with major gaps in funding efficiency and institutional capacity.

• Low R&D spending in India: India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) is only 0.6%-0.7% of GDP, which is much lower than China (2.6%), USA (3.4%), and South Korea (5.3%).
• Declining Effectiveness of R&D Spending: Although absolute R&D allocations have increased over time, their real effectiveness has declined due to inflation, expansion in the number of research institutions, and reduced per-institution funding. 
• Low Grant Approval Rates: R&D funding agencies report less than 10% grant approval rates, indicating extreme competition and underfunding of research proposals.
• Skewed Distribution of Research Funding: Around 80% of funding under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) is concentrated in IITs, despite its mandate to support broader institutions, particularly state universities and regional research bodies. The report also red-flagged 
• that ANRF does not have suitable representation from outside the IIT system.
• Duplication and Overlap in Funding Agencies: Multiple government bodies such as DST (Department of Science and Technology), CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), and ANRF fund similar research areas, leading to overlap and inefficient use of public resources.
• Delays in Fund Disbursal: Research grants are often delayed by 3-6 months, affecting project continuity and causing instability in research work.
• Rigid Procurement and Financial Rules: Cumbersome procurement procedures, “use it or lose it” budgeting norms, and rigid financial compliance systems significantly slow down research activity and reduce institutional flexibility.
• Institutional Bottlenecks: Complex procurement systems, rigid budgeting rules, and lack of autonomy in institutions slow down research execution.
• Weak Research Infrastructure in State Institutions: Research infrastructure, equipment, and funding remain heavily concentrated in elite institutions like IITs, while state universities and smaller institutions lack adequate facilities, widening regional disparities in research capacity.
• Severe Human Resource Deficit in R&D: India has only 262 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researchers per million population, far below Switzerland (5,552), UK and USA (4,821), and China (1,585), indicating a major shortage of skilled research manpower.
• Low Post-Doctoral and Fellowship Support: Post-doctoral support remains limited to about 2,500 fellowships annually, and although over 20,000 PhD fellowships exist, delays in disbursement and irregular payments weaken research stability and morale.
• Retention and Brain Drain Challenges: Researchers face low financial incentives, limited career progression, heavy teaching workloads in universities, and lack of autonomy, resulting in difficulty retaining talent within India’s research ecosystem.
• Weak Industry–Academia Linkages: Poor collaboration between universities and industries restricts the translation of research into commercial innovations, reducing the societal and economic impact of R&D investments

NITI Aayog Report on “Ease of Doing Research & Development” Recommendations

The NITI Aayog’s “Ease of Doing Research & Development” report recommends a comprehensive set of reforms to strengthen India’s R&D ecosystem by improving funding, efficiency, and human resource capacity.

• Raise GERD significantly: Increase Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD – Gross Expenditure on Research and Development) from 0.6% to 2% of GDP in the next five years through higher public and private investment.
• Attract private sector investment: Develop a collaboration-based incentive framework to encourage industry participation in R&D and strengthen public–private partnerships.
• Improve tax incentives for R&D: Provide higher tax deductions up to 125% for CSR contributions towards research and innovation activities.
• Restore and rationalise GST support: Bring back the 5% GST slab for R&D procurement (earlier available till June 2022) to reduce costs of research inputs.
• Speed up approval and funding process: Ensure clearances and proposal processing within 6 months, reducing delays in starting and continuing research projects.
• Fix funding inefficiencies: Address skewed and inadequate funding by ensuring better allocation and reducing over-concentration in select institutions like IITs.
• Reduce duplication across agencies: Minimise overlapping work among DST, CSIR, ANRF, especially in similar domains like hydrogen energy and carbon capture.
• Strengthen ANRF governance: Improve functioning of Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) by ensuring better representation beyond IITs and reducing duplication with other agencies.
• Improve fund flow mechanism: Reduce delays of 3-6 months in grant release and ensure smooth, timely disbursement of research funds.
• Reform budgeting and procurement system: Remove rigid rules like “use it or lose it” budgeting, simplify procurement, and ensure flexibility for researchers.
• Boost research manpower: Increase post-doctoral fellowships by 20% annually to strengthen human resource capacity in R&D.
• Create Vigyan Nidhi: Establish a streamlined funding architecture called Vigyan Nidhi to improve efficiency in funding and manpower retention.
• Strengthen monitoring and governance: Improve policy implementation through better monitoring, evaluation, capacity building, and administration systems in R&D sector.

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