Funds for Scientific Research

India’s Research and Development expenditure as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the last three years and corresponding figures for BRICS countries are Annexed.                 The Government as per the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013, plans to increase investment in Research and Development (R&D) as percentage of GDP to 2% by the end of XII plan period from the current level of 0.88%. Government plans to achieve this target provided private sector increase its R&D investment to match at least the public sector R&D investment. STI Policy has accordingly enumerated several measures such as various policy changes, increase in investment in R&D including by-industry and strategic sectors, extension of basic science infrastructure, new models for public private partnership and encouraging international collaborations, etc.             At present there is no proposal to introduce schemes to encourage novel research by Universities. There are, however, already several schemes such as Promotion of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (PURSE), Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (CURIE), Fund for Improvement of S&T infrastructures in Universities & Higher Institutions (FIST), Patent Acquisition and Collaborative Research and Technology Development (PACE), etc. being run by the Ministry of Science and Technology to foster and encourage novel research in the universities.  Annexure R&D Expenditure as percentage of GDP for BRICS Countries Country 2009 2010 2011 Brazil 1.17 1.16 NA Russian Federation 1.25 1.16 1.12 India 0.87 0.87 0.88* China 1.70 1.76 1.84 South Africa 0.87 NA NA                 Source:  a. UNESCO Data Centre (Data extracted on 11 July, 2014)                                 b. Research and Development Statistics, 2011-12 DST (GoI)  Data for the years beyond 2011 not available for India and other BRICS countries.