S&T Minister Jitendra Singh attributed India’s low R&D depth to “relatively less investment by the private sector”. While partly legitimate, this doesn’t absolve the federal government of duty. Experience from OECD nations, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and China exhibits a transparent sample: public R&D spending has persistently exceeded 1-1.5 % of GDP over the previous twenty years. India, due to this fact, has a robust case to lift public funding to a minimum of 1 % of GDP. Market failure principle underscores that large-scale public funding is crucial to strengthen fundamental analysis and construct crucial infrastructure.
The authorities finally recognised persistent underinvestment as a structural barrier to atmanirbhar S&T insurance policies. It has launched a sequence of schemes, together with the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, Research and Development Innovation Scheme, and Vigyan Dhara, to the tune of about Rs 4.0 lakh crore for 5 years. Most of those programmes will not be completely funded by public expenditure—they leverage authorities assist as a catalyst for attracting private funding. For occasion, over 70 % of the ANRF’s Rs 1.0 lakh crore finances is dependent upon private business participation.
Since 2020, the federal government launched almost a dozen nationwide missions in crucial and rising applied sciences corresponding to AI, inexperienced hydrogen, semiconductors, electrical mobility, quantum, geospatial, biopharma and ocean analysis. Their success will hinge on the depth and scale of private sector engagement, each when it comes to funding and innovation capability, elevating a key query: what if private funding doesn’t materialise?