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The government expects to get ₹35,000 crore from private sector for National Research Foundation (NRF). The Budget has proposed allocation of ₹2,000 crore for this.
“It will work under public-private partnership, and we are expecting strong response from private sector,” a senior government official told businessline.
NRF aims to address the pressing need for a professional and comprehensive research framework that directs human and material resources towards carrying out well coordinated research across disciplines and across all types of institutions.
While making allocation of ₹2,000 crore in the Budget, the Finance Ministry said the overarching goal of the NRF will be to seed, grow and promote research and development (R&D) and foster a culture of research and innovation throughout Indian universities, colleges, research institutions. NRF will be under Science & Technology Ministry.
The proposal to set up NRF was proposed in the Union Budget of 2019-20, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said, “We propose to establish a National Research Foundation to fund, coordinate and promote research in the country. NRF will assimilate the research grants being given by various Ministries independent of each other.”
Further, she said that NRF will ensure that the overall research ecosystem in the country is strengthened with focus on identified thrust areas relevant to our national priorities and towards basic science without duplication of effort and expenditure. We would work out a progressive and research-oriented structure for NRF.
“The funds available with all Ministries will be integrated in NRF. This would be adequately supplemented with additional funds,” she said.
The official indicated that there will be high level body for NRF.
“Soon a note for Cabinet will be floated for NRF,” he said. It is being envisaged as an umbrella structure that will improve linkages between R&D, academia and industry. The total proposed outlay of NRF is ₹50,000 crore over a period of five years.
Key objectives
One of the main objectives of NRF is to seed, grow and facilitate research at academic institutions, where research capacity is currently in a nascent stage.
It will also fund and support high-impact, large-scale, multi-investigator, multi-institution and, in some cases, interdisciplinary or multi-nation projects in collaboration with relevant Ministries, Departments, and other governmental and non-governmental entities, especially industry.
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