2 months ago
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As Tamil Nadu approaches its Assembly elections, its ambition to go a $1-trillion system and its presumption arsenic 1 of India’s starring concern and cognition hubs means it’s worthy examining however the State has invested successful subject and biology issues successful the past 5 years.
First, the State’s strategy connected situation and clime enactment has been to integrate clime enactment crossed sectors alternatively than summation a halfway allocation for the situation and clime alteration department. Within this framework, it has launched a bid of dedicated biology missions since 2021. In the 2021-22 fiscal, the State allocated ₹500 crore to found the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission — 1 of the archetypal of its benignant among States — and different ₹150 crore for the Wetlands Mission to reconstruct 100 ecologically delicate h2o bodies.
The pursuing twelvemonth the State established the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Fund with a ₹1,000-crore corpus to concern renewable energy, electrical mobility, pollution-control technologies, wood conservation, and circular-economy projects, among different climate-related technologies. It committed an archetypal ₹100 crore arsenic sponsor superior with the money tasked with mobilising much from improvement concern institutions and planetary clime investors.
By 2023-24, it had expanded its conservation efforts by dedicating ₹10 crore to Project Nilgiri Tahr and scaling up the Green Tamil Nadu Mission to summation wood cover. The 2024-25 fund expanded the Sustainably Harnessing Ocean Resources, oregon SHORE, strategy to fortify the bluish system and provided subsidies for electrical vehicles to beforehand sustainable transportation.
Spending surged successful 2025-26 arsenic the authorities allocated ₹21,178 crore to the vigor department, which includes investments successful renewable generation, pumped-storage hydro projects, artillery vigor retention systems, and different powerfulness infrastructure, and ₹100 crore to physique caller basal subject probe centres successful Chennai and Coimbatore.
The authorities besides said successful 2025 that Tamil Nadu had spent astir ₹15,270 crore implicit the erstwhile 4 years connected catastrophe relief, mitigation, preparedness, and capacity-building programmes.
S&T spending
Second, though gross spending connected subject and exertion (S&T) has risen successful caller years, it inactive represents lone a tiny stock of the State’s broader fiscal priorities. Before proceeding further, enactment that according to the National S&T Management Information System (NSTMIS), Tamil Nadu had spent much than ₹600 crore a twelvemonth connected wide R&D until 2020-21. The quality arises due to the fact that the NSTMIS assesses the R&D expenditure crossed departments alternatively than going by the expenses nether the S&T head. For Tamil Nadu, this expenditure is dispersed crossed agriculture (crop research, pest control, ungraded science, etc.), veterinary services (livestock and aquaculture research), nationalist wellness (clinical probe astatine State aesculapian college), and different applied sectors.
Even this fig has 2 important dimensions. For Tamil Nadu, this disbursal is dispersed crossed agriculture (crop research, pest control, ungraded science, etc.), veterinary services (livestock and aquaculture research), nationalist wellness (clinical probe astatine State aesculapian colleges), and different applied sectors. Dimension 1: applied probe doesn’t nutrient the underlying IP. Dimension 2: successful the aforesaid play erstwhile Tamil Nadu spent conscionable implicit ₹600 crore a twelvemonth connected wide R&D, Gujarat spent ₹922 crore and Uttar Pradesh, much than ₹1,000 crore.
A planetary examination is imaginable arsenic well. When South Korea’s GDP per capita was what Tamil Nadu’s is today, it was already allocating 1.2% of its GDP to R&D. However, Tamil Nadu’s full R&D expenditure is nether 0.5% of its GSDP, meaning that the State is presently spending little than fractional of what is required (by the South Korean yardstick) to foster a world-class innovation ecosystem.
The State’s dedicated budgetary allocation for axenic S&T successful peculiar has been overmuch little of course. In the decennary starring up to 2021-22, it had an yearly gross expenditure averaging astir ₹10 crore. But arsenic the State pivoted to being a technology-driven system and got going connected its ‘net zero’ commitment, the figures began to climb. By the 2025-26 fiscal, for instance, the allocation reached ₹67.5 crore and successful 2026-27, an estimated ₹81 crore.
But portion the summation betwixt pre-2021 and 2021-27 is eightfold successful nominal terms, it is dwarfed by the allocations for the climate-related missions. The State acceptable speech much than ₹21,000 crore for the vigor assemblage successful 2025-26 alone. In fact, until it announced ₹100 crore successful the 2025-26 fund for the caller ‘Basic Sciences and Mathematics Research Centres’ successful Chennai and Coimbatore, State backing for cardinal probe was humble — astir of it successful the signifier of tiny assistance programmes (₹10,000 to ₹1,00,000) specified arsenic those administered by the State Council for Science and Technology. The large probe institutions successful the State, specified arsenic IIT-Madras and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, are mostly funded by the Union government.
As a result, the State presently lacks the mature R&D required to make homegrown technologies. This means Tamil Nadu’s existent expenditure risks rendering it a user of greenish technologies, including buying star panels and EV batteries, alternatively than being a creator of the underlying probe breakthroughs. For instance, contempt Tamil Nadu being a nationalist person successful star installations, much than 80% of photovoltaic modules successful these projects are imported from China oregon sourced from manufacturing hubs successful Gujarat, specified arsenic those operated by the Adani Group oregon Waaree Energies.
