Magilan Karthikeyan 
The recent news of the appointment of Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, a Microsoft executive, as the first CEO of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) signals the privatisation of research funding in India. In August 2023, the Union cabinet approved the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023 (ANRF) in parliament to replace the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), which had been in place since 2008.
At the time of its inception, the government claimed that the primary objective of ANRF is to bolster the country’s research and development (R&D) capabilities in universities and colleges. In the Union budget for 2021-22, the government announced Rs 50,000 crore for ANRF over a five-year period. However, the minister of state (independent charge) for the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha in 2024, clarified that 72% of the funding (around Rs 36,000 crore) for ANRF would come from private sources, while the remaining Rs 14,000 crore over five years would be contributed by the government, translating to an annual expenditure of Rs 2,800 crore.
India’s gross expenditure on R&D is estimated to be around 0.6-0.7% of GDP as of 2025, which is significantly lower compared to other major economies like the US and China. The number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) researchers per million people in India is 255, slightly higher than sub-Saharan African countries which had approximately 99 researchers per million inhabitants.
India’s FTE numbers, however, are dismal when compared to the USA (4,452), China (1,307), Korea (7,980), Singapore (6,636), Japan (5,331) – and it is far below the global average of 1,198. In terms of population, the total number of researchers in India is 3.42 lakh as compared to 17.40 lakh in China, 13.71 lakh in USA, 6.76 lakh in Japan, 4.13 lakh in Germany and 3.83 lakh in Korea. The trend of lesser number of FTE researchers and insufficient research spending points to an underlining crisis in India’s R&D sector. Additionally, even under the ambit of erstwhile SERB, research funding to institutions was not distributed equitably.
For instance, IITs and other institutions of national importance – which cater to the needs of just 3% of India’s students – corner major share (65%) of the research funding from SERB. On the contrary, state universities receive just 11% of the funds provided by the SERB. Moreover, the representation of OBC/SC/ST and minorities in the research funding is abysmally low.
“There is no reservation for OBC/SC/ST/PH/Women followed in selection,” Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology said, while responding to an RTI query on the implementation of constitutionally mandated affirmative policies in its research funding schemes.
In addition, non-utilisation and subversion of the SC/ST sub plan funds by funding agencies to other schemes have led to the underrepresentation of SC/STs. This clearly indicates that even under government control, funding agencies exhibit limited transparency in their funding patterns and there’s no equitable distribution of available resources.
Lack of accountability and possibility of potential bias
Now, the takeover of funding agencies by private interests may lead to further lack of accountability and potential bias. As of now, the contributions made by private firms or the funds donated by individuals to ANRF are not publicly disclosed. This lack of transparency raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest and whether these contributors stand to profit from their investments.
The dominant presence of private firms in science funding may skew research priorities toward serving corporate interests rather than the broader public good. For example, researchers may be discouraged from pursuing studies that are critical of certain technologies or conflict with the interests of private firms due to concerns about funding rejections.
After the significant corporate tax cuts in 2019 (from 30% to 22%), Indian companies have been effectively paying a lower share of their profits as tax than the statutory rate. As a result, over the past five years since 2020, company profits have grown by 32.5%, while total corporate taxes paid have increased by only 18.6%, leading to a profit of Rs 3 lakh crore for India’s largest corporations.
Despite availing huge tax benefits, private firms are reluctant to invest in R&D. For example, in developed and emerging economies such as South Korea, Japan, China, and the USA, private enterprises contribute over 50% of the total R&D expenditure.
The recent economic survey points out that R&D investments by private companies in India continue to remain low and are focused only in a few sectors. All of this points to a grim picture, and it is unlikely that private firms will contribute Rs 36,000 crore toward the ANRF in the upcoming years. If India is to achieve a $5 trillion economy, substantial investment in R&D is crucial. However, the Union government’s decision to hand over the responsibilities of research funding to private firms does not bode well for the future direction of research in India.
Magilan Karthikeyan is currently working as an Assistant Professor in a private university. His interests include science, politics, history and culture. He can be reached at magilankarthikeyan@protonmail.com