Representative picture.
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Due to tepid response from private research and development (R&D) companies, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), which conducts a periodic National Science and Technology Survey to gauge the state of scientific research in India, is ready to postpone the publication of its evaluation.
The biennial survey, which originated in the mid-Nineteen Nineties, now surveys round 8,000 research and development our bodies – public and privately funded – and offers perception into questions such because the nation’s home expenditure on research and development; the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dedicated to it; the variety of scientists (together with the proportion of girls) in the nation; patents generated, and how India fares on research spending in comparison with different international locations. The final report was revealed in March 2023, nevertheless it solely included information as much as 2021.
Data for the survey is sourced by the Science Ministry by sending an in depth questionnaire to organisations concerned in scientific research. Though the identities of companies are masked, the info is used to determine normal developments on the state of scientific research.
The newest version of the survey was launched in December 2024 with companies given time till September 30, 2025 to submit responses. While a lot of the responses from governmental establishments have been in, the private sector response has been weak.
“We will likely extend the date till November 30 and publish the results within a month,” stated Arvind Kumar, the pinnacle of the National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS), the division of the Science Ministry in cost of the train. He was talking at a workshop organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Friday, to encourage private sector participation in the survey.
As of September, 73% of presidency R&D establishments had shared their information however solely 35% of business our bodies (registered with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) and 9% of multinational firms had shared their responses, in accordance with information shared on the discussion board.
The final survey reported that in 2020–21, India spent solely 0.64% of its GDP on scientific research – the bottom since 1996 (excluding defence research). Industrially developed international locations such because the United States, China, Japan, Finland, South Korea, and Germany spend anyplace from 1.5% to three.5% of their GDP on R&D.
Another concern is the funding combine: about 75% of India’s R&D spending comes from the general public sector, whereas in most superior economies, private companies contribute the lion’s share.
Praveen Arora, former head of NSTMIS, famous that firms weren’t forthcoming with info, elevating the likelihood that private sector contributions weren’t mirrored in the evaluation.
Industry individuals stated {that a} main problem in furnishing such info to the federal government was that the parameters of what constituted “research and development spending” was not clear.
“Many a time, the questionnaire doesn’t provide clarity on the numbers that we need to fill. Given that India’s GDP per capita is low, India’s spend on R&D is actually fairly impressive and we should not at this time compare it to the industrially advanced nations,” stated Sankalp Sinha, General Manager, IBM India, who attended the workshop.
Published – September 26, 2025 11:26 pm IST