The Union Cabinet approved the introduction of the National Research Foundation Bill in Parliament on 28 June 2023, at a total estimated cost of ₹50,000 crore over five years (2023-28). The Lok Sabha passed it on 7 August 2023 and the Rajya Sabha on 9 August 2023; it received assent on 12 August 2023 as Act No. 25 of 2023, repealing the Science and Engineering Research Board Act, 2008 and subsuming the Board. Its provisions came into force on 5 February 2024, with the DST Secretary, Prof. Abhay Karandikar, appointed interim Chief Executive Officer. A budgetary allocation of ₹2,000 crore was made for ANRF in BE 2024-25.
Research Funding · ANRF
Research Funding · ANRF
The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) was set up under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act, 2023, whose provisions came into force on 5 February 2024, to fund and give strategic direction to research across India's universities, colleges, research institutions and R&D laboratories. It subsumed the Science and Engineering Research Board, and aims to receive ₹50,000 crore during 2023-28, of which ₹14,000 crore is a Central Government provision and the rest is to come from other sources, including industry and philanthropists. ANRF also houses the Special Purpose Fund of the ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, approved on 1 July 2025 to finance private-sector R&D. The counter shows gross expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP.
₹1 lakh cr
RDI Scheme corpus over six years (approved 1 July 2025)
0.84%
Gross expenditure on R&D as a share of GDP (2023-24)
354
Full-time equivalent researchers per million population (2023-24)
Gross expenditure on R&D as % of GDP, per financial year
| Year | R&D spending (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 0.71 % of GDP |
| 2015 | 0.70 % of GDP |
| 2016 | 0.69 % of GDP |
| 2017 | 0.67 % of GDP |
| 2018 | 0.67 % of GDP |
| 2019 | 0.66 % of GDP |
| 2020 | 0.66 % of GDP |
| 2021 | 0.64 % of GDP |
| 2022 | 0.83 % of GDP |
| 2023 | 0.82 % of GDP |
| 2024 | 0.84 % of GDP |
2014
0.00% of GDP
R&D spending (% of GDP)
20142024
Since 2014
Added
+0.13 % of GDP
2014
0.71 % of GDP
2024
0.84 % of GDP
Why it matters Research spending decides how much new knowledge, technology and skilled talent a country produces for itself. India spent 0.84% of its GDP on R&D in 2023-24, while most developed countries spend more than 2%, according to DST. ANRF is meant to spread research funding beyond a few established institutions, including to State universities, and the RDI Scheme to draw more private money into high-risk research.
- ANRF Act, 2023 (No. 25 of 2023): assent 12 August 2023; provisions in force from 5 February 2024
- ₹50,000 crore during 2023-28: ₹14,000 crore from the Central Government and ₹36,000 crore expected from non-government sources
- RDI Scheme: ₹1 lakh crore over six years, approved 1 July 2025, launched 3 November 2025; ₹20,000 crore allocated for 2025-26
- GERD as % of GDP: 0.71% (2013-14) → 0.64% (2020-21) → 0.84% (2023-24) (DST, R&D Statistics 2025-26)
- Full-time equivalent researchers per million population: 262 (2020-21) → 354 (2023-24); 5.07 lakh FTE researchers as on 1 April 2024
- Private sector share of total R&D expenditure: 36.4% (2020-21) → 51.8% (2023-24) (DST, via PIB)
History
Notable milestone
The Prime Minister chaired the first meeting of ANRF's Governing Board on 10 September 2024, which decided to pair universities where research is at a nascent stage with top-tier institutions. ANRF launched its first two initiatives, the Prime Minister Early Career Research Grant and the MAHA-EV Mission on electric vehicles, on 14 October 2024, and announced the PAIR programme, with one hub and up to seven spoke institutions per network, in November 2024. In May 2025 it selected seven e-Nodes under MAHA-EV from 227 consortium proposals. The Union Cabinet approved the ₹1 lakh crore RDI Scheme on 1 July 2025, and it was formally launched on 3 November 2025.
How it works
The Prime Minister is the ex-officio President of ANRF's Governing Board, the Union Ministers of Science & Technology and of Education are Vice-Presidents, and an Executive Council chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser runs its functioning; DST is the administrative department. Its programmes include competitive research grants, fellowships, PAIR for State and central universities, and MAHA missions, which by June 2026 included electric vehicles, drones, medical technologies, 6G and water. The RDI Scheme is operated through a Special Purpose Fund in ANRF, which passes money to second-level fund managers such as TDB and BIRAC. They offer long-term, low-interest loans and equity to projects at Technology Readiness Level 4 and above, covering up to 50% of project cost, but no grants.
Outlook
Under the RDI Scheme, TDB and BIRAC were each sanctioned ₹1,000 crore, and ₹500 crore was disbursed to TDB in March 2026. By July 2026, TDB had approved 22 projects with a total cost of ₹4,744 crore, including ₹2,192 crore of RDI support, and BIRAC had shortlisted eight projects involving ₹390.35 crore. Applications from 162 alternative investment funds and 38 focused research organisations, with proposed commitments of around ₹8,000 crore, were under consideration. On 1 June 2026 ANRF and the Ministry of Jal Shakti launched a MAHA Water Mission with a projected outlay of ₹200 crore over five years.
By the numbers
₹50,000 crore estimated for ANRF over 2023-28, ₹14,000 crore of it from the Central Government. 5 Feb 2024 ANRF Act in force. ₹1 lakh crore RDI Scheme over six years (approved 1 Jul 2025). GERD 0.71% of GDP (2013-14) → 0.64% (2020-21) → 0.84% (2023-24), or ₹2,44,767.81 crore. FTE researchers per million 262 (2020-21) → 354 (2023-24). ₹264.70 crore in ANRF grants in high-impact technology areas (March 2026). Sources: DST, Research and Development Statistics 2025-26; PIB PRID 1935895, 1947230, 2085535, 2141130, 2291139 and 2291143; PIB backgrounder, 22 June 2026; Gazette of India.
Data current to: GERD to 2023-24 (R&D Statistics 2025-26); RDI Scheme status as on 29 July 2026
Source: DST, S&T Indicators Tables, Research and Development Statistics 2025-26 (Table 3) — gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP for each financial year, 2013-14 to 2023-24 (FY labelled by the year it ends; ratios revised by DST to the latest GDP figures, with the new MoSPI GDP series from 2022-23; the estimates for 2024-25 and 2025-26 are not plotted). Headline: Union Cabinet via PIB (28 June 2023) — a total estimated cost of ₹50,000 crore during 2023-28, of which ₹14,000 crore is a Central Government provision (PIB, 18 December 2024, linked). · link