What seven leading Indian scientists make of the R&D budget

Did the 2026-27 Union Budget unrecorded up to India’s subject ambitions and scientists’ expectations? The views alteration depending connected what circumstantial sectors person received and the initiatives announced, and they’re not each rosy. Here are comments from 7 starring scientists from astir India, including heads of cardinal departments, institutes, and a starring State university, compiled by New Delhi-based freelance subject writer T.V. Padma for The Hindu.

To work this comments successful nonfiction form, click here.

N. Kalaiselvi, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

I presumption the Union Budget 2026-27 arsenic a beardown and reassuring affirmation of the Government of India’s content successful science, technology, and innovation arsenic engines of nationalist maturation and self-reliance. The Budget reflects continuity and assurance successful nationalist probe institutions, with sustained enactment to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and CSIR, including enhanced allocations for nationalist laboratories, capableness building, and mission-oriented research. This dependable backing trajectory provides an enabling instauration for semipermanent technological capableness and impact.

I americium peculiarly encouraged by the instauration of respective mission-mode and sector-focused initiatives successful this Budget. Programmes specified arsenic Biopharma SHAKTI, India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Mission, and expanded enactment for physics components manufacturing and captious minerals are timely and forward-looking. These initiatives resonate powerfully with CSIR’s strengths successful indigenous exertion development, precocious materials, process innovation and translational research. The accent connected improving accumulation systems successful areas specified arsenic water, vigor and captious minerals, on with enactment for MSMEs, design-led innovation and sustainable manufacturing, aligns intimately with CSIR’s ongoing reforms and Technology Transfer Commitments — 2030.

The Budget besides sends a wide awesome that science-led solutions volition play a cardinal relation successful addressing nationalist priorities—from healthcare and cleanable vigor to manufacturing competitiveness and clime action. CSIR, with its nationwide laboratory web and heavy manufacture linkages, stands afloat prepared to construe this argumentation intent into deployable technologies and measurable outcomes. I americium assured that the Union Budget 2026–27 volition further fortify India’s innovation ecosystem and accelerate advancement towards Viksit Bharat.

L.S. Shahisdhara, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru

We invited the announcements of ₹10,000 crore implicit 5 years for the biopharma assemblage and ₹20,000 crore arsenic portion of this year’s allocation nether the RDIF. Indian scientists, peculiarly successful the biologic sciences, person faced important backing shortfalls pursuing large changes introduced successful 2024-25 to the fund-flow strategy and delays successful the modulation from the erstwhile SERB to the ANRF. These disruptions whitethorn person resulted successful underspending by DBT and DST/SERB/ANRF during some the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years. Thankfully, however, this underspending has not resulted successful reduced budgetary allocations, and the outlays for DBT, DST, and ANRF stay unchanged from the erstwhile year. ICMR, which has demonstrated beardown spending show successful FY 2025-26, has received a 25% summation successful its budget. 

It appears that the budgetary allocation nether the caller Biopharma SHAKTI strategy has been made to the Department of Pharmaceuticals. It is important to recognise that galore tools and technologies underpinning biopharma originate from researchers moving crossed divers areas of the beingness sciences, including biomedical and cultivation research. Indian academia and the R&D assemblage person important expertise successful modern synthetic biology, bioengineering, and computational and AI-driven approaches to macromolecule plan and metabolic engineering. Expanding this assemblage done short-term grooming programmes and internship schemes would further fortify nationalist capacity. We truthful petition the Department of Pharmaceuticals to actively prosecute the broader beingness sciences assemblage successful the plan and implementation of schemes nether Biopharma SHAKTI.

While the attraction and cure of diseases are captious successful the abbreviated term, preventive measures to trim the wide wellness load are arsenic important for India, fixed its ample colonisation and uneven entree to healthcare. A information of the budgetary allocation nether Biopharma SHAKTI, on with the enhanced backing for ICMR, could beryllium efficaciously utilised to initiate and enactment specified semipermanent preventive wellness programmes.

Globally, small- and medium-sized grants to emerging probe groups play a captious relation successful advancing some basal and applied science. In India, specified enactment is mostly provided by DBT, ANRF, and ICMR, and we anticipation these agencies volition summation the fig of specified grants. Finally, we sincerely petition the Expenditure Division of the Ministry of Finance to facilitate creaseless and timely money flow, which volition importantly heighten our quality to make indigenous solutions for health, agriculture, and the environment.

Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

The Union Budget 2026-27 reinforces biotechnology’s cardinal relation successful advancing India’s self-reliance successful bioeconomy and biopharma. The fund estimation for DBT successful 2026-27 is Rs. 3,446 crore, representing a 1.2x summation implicit the revised estimation (RE) of 2025-26 (Rs. 2,830.45 crore), reflecting sustained prioritisation of biotechnology.

BioPharma Shakti, with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore implicit 5 years, is simply a large boost for the DBT’s mandate to code the increasing load of non-communicable diseases specified arsenic diabetes and cancer. This inaugural volition besides accelerate indigenous improvement and manufacturing of biologics and biosimilars, strengthening affordability, access, and planetary competitiveness.

The DBT- National Biopharma Mission (NBM), implemented done BIRAC, has already created a beardown instauration by supporting R&D crossed vaccines, biologics, biosimilars, diagnostics, and aesculapian devices, on with GCP-compliant objective proceedings sites, illness registries, vaccine networks, exertion transportation offices, and shared infrastructure. Overall, NBM has provided a instauration chromatic for BioPharma Shakti, which volition physique connected this ecosystem and standard it further.

Looking ahead, DBT already prioritises compartment and cistron therapy (CGT) arsenic a strategical frontier done a projected nationalist ngo focused connected indigenous exertion improvement and outgo reduction. DBT volition proceed to anchor projects and programs connected biologics and biosimilars, leveraging connected iBRIC+ institutions’ R&D and innovation strength. BIRAC-DBT volition further grow co-development enactment for biologics nether the RDI Imitative.

This year’s fund and initiatives are besides aligned with the BioE3 argumentation of the Government of India, which promotes precocious biomanufacturing for biotherapeutics specified arsenic monoclonal antibodies, mRNA therapy, and CGT, CCUS, astute biomanufacturing, etc.Building connected the BioE3 and BioRIDE scheme, DBT volition further standard up biomanufacturing hubs, biofoundries, and bio-AI hubs nether the BioE3 policy, establishing ‘Moolankur’ hubs that integrate AI with biology to alteration high-performance biomanufacturing.

Renu Vig, Vice-chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh

The Union Budget 2026-27’s accent connected ‘University Townships’ is simply a invited displacement toward industry-integrated learning. As Vice-Chancellor of 4th oldest multi-disciplinary acquisition and probe authorities assemblage successful the country, I believe such institutions indispensable pb the ‘Knowledge Partnership’ successful each State’s bid for these townships. Rather than being seen arsenic abstracted from caller developments, these bequest universities should be anchor partners successful these caller industrial-academic zones.

We should envision ‘Thematic Clusters’ wherever a bequest State University leads successful the Basic Sciences, Humanities, and determination innovation, portion method institutes supply the indispensable toolsets. This benignant of multi-disciplinarity is the halfway of the NEP 2020, and it is already successful the DNA of legacy institutions. These universities amended much than 80% of our students and person built the nation’s intelligence instauration implicit decades; they are a nationalist plus that indispensable beryllium nurtured to guarantee the occurrence of India’s caller acquisition map.

States tin impact their universities portion preparing proposals for bidding and aboriginal connected usage the existing disposable expertise for mounting up the townships. Legacy universities should beryllium leaders of this initiative.

Tarun Souradeep, Director, Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru:

It is highly heartening to enactment the explicit encouragement for Astronomy and Astrophysics done enactment for the constitution of large nationalist observational facilities successful India successful the Budget 2026. Astronomy and our spot successful the Cosmos person been the premier quest for humankind since our quality prompted the archetypal rhythm of quests and conquests.  These facilities would supply a unsocial level to adopt, develop, and innovate to conquer caller goals astatine the highest level of technology, allowing Indian scientists to instrumentality connected further challenging caller quests.  While astir whitethorn cognize that the ubiquitous CCD cameras successful mobiles were developed for Astronomy, little good known is that the exertion underlying higher-speed 4G and 5G bid evolved successful astronomical instrumentation laboratories a mates of decades earlier, stepping beyond vigor frequencies into the microwave set and beyond. I americium excited that this besides paves the mode for proposals for observatories successful the microwave and Terahertz bands of Astronomy, accessible from the unique, adust Himalayan heights of Ladakh, which volition let India to make expertise successful strategical dual-use exertion portion promoting India arsenic a premier planetary destination for observatories astatine these frequencies.

The improvement of detector exertion astatine the microwave and terahertz ranges ties into the Budget 2026 enactment for the semiconductor mission, where, astatine the pinnacle of capability, superconducting semiconductor chips operating adjacent to -273 Centigrade (milli-Kelvins) would unfastened caller Astronomical windows portion providing quantum sensor exertion capabilities captious to the Nation’s extremity to attain planetary parity successful quantum computing, communications, and modern defence infrastructure.

C.P. Rajendran, Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Although India’s gross R&D expenditure has risen nominally, its share of GDP has stagnated betwixt 0.64% and 0.7% for years, acold down precocious economies. The 2026-27 fund for subject follows a globally fashionable script, prioritising applied sectors similar abstraction applications, AI, semiconductors, and quantum technology.

This year’s money allocation for these sectors simply continues established trends. Despite a stated argumentation exemplary that emphasises private-sector contributions, public backing inactive accounts for astir two-thirds of full R&D expenditure. The authorities has failed to sufficiently enthuse backstage superior to put successful indigenous technological research, revealing a continued, structural penchant for importing mature overseas exertion implicit fostering home innovation.

The Department of Space received a 2.16% backing increase, reflecting beardown governmental backing for flagship programs similar the Gaganyaan manned mission—a high-visibility task that tin present important governmental optics up of an election.

The fund besides envisions upgrading 4 large astronomy facilities, including the National Large Solar Telescope and the National Large Optical Infrared Telescope, a determination that would fortify star physics and astrophysics research.

However, this committedness is undercut by a stark backing contradiction. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), the premier instauration tasked with starring this precise work, has received nary further budgetary support. While the caller telescopes transportation an estimated terms tag of Rs 3,500 crore, the IIA—alongside 24 different autonomous probe institutions—will collectively person only Rs 1,623 crore. This disparity reveals a precedence for disposable infrastructure implicit the foundational technological capableness required to utilise it effectively.

 The challenges faced by probe institutions similar the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) bespeak a systemic situation successful basal research. National priorities person shifted decisively toward short-term, mission-mode programmes, starving cardinal subject of sustained support.

While wide R&D budgets whitethorn amusement nominal increases, they consistently neglect to outpace inflation, resulting successful an effectual year-on-year chopped successful existent probe funding. Consequently, India’s full R&D expenditure arsenic a percent of GDP has remained stagnant. This chronic underfunding of basal subject is compounded by an situation of excessive bureaucracy and top-down micromanagement wrong agencies similar the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

This administrative load actively hinders researchers, obstructing the timely and effectual execution of adjacent approved projects. The eventual effect is simply a paradox of debased money utilisation and unmet objectives, wherever the machinery of governance stifles the precise innovation it is meant to foster.

The lawsuit of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) is emblematic of a broader pattern: ambitious announcements followed by minimal backing and a displacement successful priorities distant from basal science. Conceived to invigorate research, the ANRF has been plagued by a deficiency of transparency and an over-reliance connected private-sector partnerships focused connected “prototype development,” sidelining curiosity-driven cardinal research. Despite an archetypal five-year committedness of Rs 50,000 crore, it has received a meagre Rs 2,000 crore for the 2nd consecutive year.

A akin disconnect defines the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) fund, announced past twelvemonth to enactment deep-tech projects successful the backstage assemblage with a promised Rs 1 lakh crore over 7 years. To date, only Rs 3,000 crore has been disbursed, raising the captious question: “Spent connected what?”

The backing disparity is stark. While nationalist labs person constricted funds, the backstage assemblage is allocated ten times more public wealth done specified schemes. This doctrine extends to fiscal policy, wherever big-tech companies similar Meta and Google are offered a taxation vacation until 2047 to found information centres successful India. These facilities are monolithic powerfulness guzzlers, a cardinal crushed specified firms question offshore locations. This inducement not lone represents a important transportation of nationalist resources but volition besides enforce a tremendous, semipermanent strain connected India’s vigor grid for decades.

The 2026-27 fund allocates a revised estimation of ₹3,200 crore to accelerate the implementation of 50,000 schoolhouse labs nationwide. This inaugural aims to foster hands-on learning and innovation, generating pupil involvement successful emerging technologies similar robotics, AI, and the Internet of Things, and creating a pipeline for aboriginal researchers. However, this promising concern is introduced into an acquisition situation already compromised by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its consequent initiatives, which fundamentally undermine the tone of enquiry and innovation the labs are meant to nurture.

Pradeep T., Professor of Chemistry, IIT-Madras

The Union Budget presented contiguous embeds science, research, technology, and acquisition crossed aggregate mission-mode initiatives and organization interventions. Instead of presenting probe arsenic a standalone sector, the Budget positions it arsenic an enabling instauration for economical growth, strategical autonomy, and workforce preparedness nether the imaginativeness of Viksit Bharat. The code reflects continuity with caller argumentation directions portion expanding the standard and scope of science-linked nationalist programmes. Explicit backing plans for this modulation are presented.

Taken together, the provisions successful the Union Budget 2026–27 bespeak a wide argumentation absorption toward system-level strengthening of India’s probe and exertion ecosystem. By embedding probe explicitly wrong missions connected biopharma, semiconductors, captious materials, and precocious manufacturing, the Budget moves beyond isolated backing toward sector-spanning probe platforms. The enlargement of specialised institutions (such arsenic NIPERs), nationalist probe facilities, objective proceedings networks, and industry-linked probe and grooming centres is apt to summation the scale, diversity, and translational imaginable of precocious probe successful India. The accent connected full-stack capabilities, regulatory science, and value-chain integration suggests an intent to determination from exertion adoption toward exertion creation. If this attack moves towards different areas, it volition beryllium a large enactment for Vision 2047.

The projected University Townships and inclusion-focused measures code long-standing structural constraints successful higher acquisition and research, perchance enabling sustained maturation successful quality capital. Simultaneously, investments successful frontier infrastructure and emerging exertion acquisition awesome continuity successful India’s aspiration to beryllium a planetary contributor to precocious subject and technology.

The fund mostly presents argumentation perspectives connected India’s maturation trajectory. Therefore, it is important for assorted missions/ministries to allocate sector-specific backing to make the indispensable S&T breakthroughs captious for realising the dreams of assorted missions. Systematic summation successful allocation successful the coming years is indispensable to marque an interaction globally and circumstantial details towards this imaginativeness are expected successful the people of time.