National Research Foundation: Detailed Project Report

National Research Foundation
Detailed Project Report
Developed by
The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and

Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)
in Consultation with
The Ministry of Human Resource Development

Department of Higher Education
December 2019
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INDEX
S. Description Page
No. No.
1. Background 3
2. Status of R&I Investment 4
3. India’s Research Output 5
4. Impediments to Research 5
5. Concept of NRF 6
6. Objectives of NRF 8
7. Scope and Structure of NRF 9
8. Funding Research Proposals Through Rigorous Peer 14

Review
9. Building Research Capacity in Universities and Colleges 17
10. Large Interdisciplinary Projects, Missions, and 20

Megaprojects
11. Creating Beneficial Linkages Among Government, 22
Industry, and Researchers
12. Recognising Outstanding Research Funded by NRF 24
Through Awards and National Seminars
13. Initial Setup 25
14. Financial Implication 26
Annexures 33
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National Research Foundation (NRF)
1. Background:
1.1 Origins. The idea to set up a National Research Foundation (NRF) in

India, as a body to catalyse, facilitate, coordinate, seed, grow, and mentor
research in institutions around the country, has been in the minds of
researchers in the nation for many decades. Such a National Research
Foundation was one of the key recommendations of the Draft National
Education Policy 2019, which was commissioned by the Ministry of
Human Resource Development in 2017.
1.2 The Importance of Research for Higher Education. As noted in the

Draft National Education Policy 2019, the very best higher education
institutions (HEIs) in the world and throughout history have been those
in which high-quality knowledge creation also takes place. Furthermore,
the very best teachers in HEIs, for imparting the skills of creative thinking,
innovation, and a research mindset, are naturally those scholars who
themselves are deeply involved in the knowledge-creation process.
Therefore, cultivating research in HEIs across the country is considered
critical for the success and vibrancy of the nation’s higher education
system, and for India’s higher education institutions to take their place
among the very best in the world. Unfortunately, at the current time, less
than 1% of the country’s approximately 40,000 higher education
institutions engage in research. Thus, the vast majority of the nation’s
faculty and students in higher education institutions are simply not
involved with knowledge creation at all – a huge loss to India’s research
potential.
1.3 The Importance of Research for Addressing Key Societal Challenges.

Some of the key societal challenges that India needs to address today,
such as access for all its citizens to clean drinking water and sanitation,
quality education and healthcare, social equity, improved transportation,
sustainable infrastructure, elimination of poverty, air quality, clean
energy, and reversing climate change and its negative impact, will require
the implementation of approaches and solutions that are not only
informed by top-notch science and technology but also rooted in a deep
understanding of the social sciences and humanities and the various
socio-cultural dimensions of the nation. Facing and addressing these
challenges will therefore require high-quality interdisciplinary research
across fields, which must be conducted in India and cannot simply be
imported. The ability to conduct one's own research across disciplines will
be critical for India to develop sustainable solutions to key societal
challenges. It is also well-understood that the existence of a research
culture across disciplines also enables a nation to much more easily
import, adapt, and apply relevant research from abroad. For all this to
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happen inclusively across India, the importance of having the flexibility
of conducting research through all our languages, and not only in
English, is necessary.
1.4 The Importance of Research Across Disciplines for the Development
of an Enlightened Knowledge Society. In addition to their value in
solutions to societal challenges, any country's identity, upliftment, social
progress, spiritual/intellectual satisfaction, and creativity is also attained
in a major way through its art, history, language, and culture. Arts and
humanities bring people closer to one other, and encourage critical
thinking, empathy, and creativity. Research in and advancement of the
arts and humanities, along with innovations in the sciences and social
sciences, are thus considered extremely important for the progress,
humanity, and enlightened nature of a nation.
1.5 The Importance of Research for Sustainable Development. If India is

to achieve sustainable development and be a world leader, it must be at
the forefront of knowledge creation and Research & Innovation (R&I). Key
sectors of the Indian economy, such as defence, healthcare, rapid modes
of transportation, aviation, and the manufacturing of electronic and
communication devices, are critically dependent upon import of primary
and secondary goods from various parts of the world to cater to indigenous
demand. A well-directed and coordinated effort on the research and
innovation front will directly complement the Government of India’s ‘Make
in India’ initiative, create ample employment opportunities for our
aspiring youth, and significantly enlarge India’s footprints in the global
research index, which will eventually have a ripple effect in all sectors of
our economy.
1.6 Summary. In summary, there is no single factor more important to the

intellectual, social, and economic progress of a nation, and to the
enhanced well-being of its citizens, than the continuous creation and
acquisition of new knowledge. A new National Research Foundation would
aim to become a major driver of that process for India, helping to
sustainably thrust forward the nation’s economy, enhance its security,
promote well-being and societal progress, and grow India’s position as a
global leader.
2. Current Status of R&I Investment:
2.1 R&I Investment as a Percentage of GDP. India’s R&I investment as a

percentage of GDP, vis-a-vis other countries of the world, is currently
extremely low and in fact has shown a steady decline over the last decade,
dropping from 0.84% in 2008 to around 0.69% in 2018. For the sake of
comparison, in 2018, R&I investment as a proportion of GDP was 2.8%
in the United States, 2.1% in China, 4.3% in Israel, and 4.2% in South
Korea.
2.2 Number of Researchers Supported by Current R&I Investment. The

small proportion of GDP that India invests in R&I annually is reflected in
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the relatively small number of people that are supported to conduct
research in India. The number of researchers per lakh of the population
is only 15 in India, compared to 111 in China, 423 in the United States,
and 825 in Israel, as per the Economic Survey of India, 2016-17. This
extremely small number of researchers supported in India naturally
results in severe underperformance in its research-output metrics.
3. India’s Research Output:
3.1 Number of Patents. India lags behind other nations in the number of
patents produced. According to the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) 2017 report, as many as 13,81,584 patent
applications were made by China, and 6,06,956 by USA, but a mere
46,582 by India - of which approximately 68% were made by non-resident
Indians.
3.2 Number of Publications. In terms of publications, India has been doing

somewhat better, showing steady growth in its output and taking India’s
share of scientific publications from 3.1% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2013 to 4.8%
in 2016. However, a 2018 compilation of Science and Engineering
indicators by the U.S. National Science Foundation showed that both the
USA (17.8%) and China (18.6%) published approximately four times as
many articles as India in 2016.
3.3 Quality of Research. The quality of publications from India has also been
substantially lower than global standards. Though in terms of the total
number of publications India stands at the 5th position in the World, in
terms of the citation impact, India is much lower at the 11th position.
Only 15.8% of the total publications are in top 10 journals, compared
with, e.g., 27.6% in China and 36.2% in the U.S. The overall quality of
our R&I is currently not up to current global standards. Moreover, none
of our institutions are amongst the top 100 R&I institutions of the world.
The quality of the research workforce produced by our institutions is thus
currently not amongst the best in the world, barring a few exceptions.
4. Other Impediments to Research:
4.1 Lack of Integrated Planning and Coordination. While each of our

funding bodies has done an excellent job in nurturing components
specific to them, the whole remains less than the sum of its parts, because
of an absence of integrated planning and coordination, which is necessary
today due to the multidisciplinary nature of modern scholarship and its
applications to society. Thus India’s R&I capabilities are not fully realised,
and would likely not be realised within the existing structure simply by a
mere increase in funding. Hence a key reason for the overall state of
research in the country not being at par with the global best is the
absence of an integrated and comprehensive approach towards seeding,
funding, coordinating, and monitoring R&I initiatives in the country and
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their linkages with Central and State governmental bodies and with
industry and societal needs.
4.2 Lack of Research Culture. The lack of research culture and mindset, and
the lack of research infrastructure in most educational institutions,
further compounds the problem. The artificial separation between
research and education that was created post-independence, with
research being conducted at relatively well-funded standalone research
institutions while universities were designated only for teaching and
largely starved of research funds, has evidently hurt the country
considerably - both in research and in teaching. The union of education
and research must be restored.
4.3 Lack of Emphasis on Creativity and Critical Thinking in Educational

Institutions. The lack of creativity and critical thinking in large sections
of our students is yet another impediment. Marks-based assessment of
students’ potential promotes rote learning without analytical skills,
communication skills, innovation, or creativity. Our curriculum does not
give enough importance to soft skills and human-centric development,
e.g., through the arts, humanities, and social sciences. To address this
problem, there is a need to promote special programmes within our
education system for developing cognitive, creative, and design-thinking
skills amongst students – thereby making them more employable as well.
These skills will not only empower students to identify and visualize key
problems around them, but also encourage them to become involved in
proposing constructive, out-of-the-box, and sustainable solutions.
5. Concept of a National Research Foundation:
5.1 Need for a National Research Foundation (NRF). Due to the various
factors as described in the previous sections, as articulated also in the
National Education Policy 2019, there is a pressing need to set up a
professional and comprehensive research and education framework - a
National Research Foundation (NRF) - that directs human and material
resources towards carrying out well-coordinated research across
disciplines and across all types of institutions.
5.2 Call by the Honourable Prime Minister of India. In his address to the
Indian Science Congress on January 3, 2019, the Honourable Prime
Minister of India emphasised the need for such a research structure,
and called on PM-STIAC, in consultation with MHRD, to formulate such
a framework:
“We must establish an expanded research ecosystem… Friends, our

strengths in research and development are built on the backbone of
our national labs, Central Universities, IITs, IISc, TIFR, and IISERs.
However, over 95% of our students go to State Universities and
colleges where research is still limited; a strong research ecosystem
must be developed in these universities and colleges. I call upon the
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NRF Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council to
discuss these issues in detail and formulate an action plan, in
consultation with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, to
boost research in our colleges and State Universities.”
5.3 Announcement by the Honourable President of India. The need for

such a research framework was re-emphasised by the Honourable
President of India on 20/06/2019, in his address to the joint sitting of
two Houses of Parliament, when he stated that:-
“Research is being encouraged in higher educational institutions.

To further strengthen this effort, it is proposed to establish a
‘National Research Foundation’. This proposed foundation will
work as a bridge between different Departments of the Central
Government, science laboratories, higher educational institutions
and industrial institutions.”
5.4 Announcement by the Honourable Finance Minister. On July 5, 2019,

the Honourable Finance Minister, in her Budget Speech, 2019-20
announced that:-
“We propose to establish a National Research Foundation (NRF) to

fund, coordinate, and promote research in the country. NRF will
assimilate the research grants being given by various Ministries
independent of each other. NRF will ensure that the overall research
eco-system 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 very 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.”
5.5 Meeting at NITI Aayog. A meeting with representatives from Ministries,

Departments, industry, and academia, to discuss a possible `National
Research Foundation’ and its structure, the spectrum of its operations,
and its linkages with industry and academia, was held at NITI Aayog on
August 20, 2019. A number of valuable suggestions emerged on the
creation of a National Research Foundation for the development of
research capacity in the over 40,000 higher education and research
institutions in the nation.
5.6 Proposal to set up a National Research Foundation. It is in the above

backdrop that the National Research Foundation (NRF) has been
conceptualized and proposed to be set up, at the earliest, with the
overarching goal of enabling a culture of research and innovation across
disciplines to permeate through India’s universities, colleges, research
institutions, and R&D laboratories.
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6. Objectives of NRF:
6.1 Primary Objectives of the National Research Foundation. The NRF will
explicitly aim to remove the various obstacles to research in the nation as
discussed in 2-4. The NRF will have the following key objectives:
(a) Fund competitive peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types,

submitted in any of our official languages to individuals or groups
of individuals, across all disciplines (including for interdisciplinary
research) and across all types of institutions, in order to
significantly strengthen India’s research and innovation potential;
(b) Seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions,

particularly at universities and colleges where research capacity is
currently in a nascent stage, through mentoring of such institutions
by eminent research scholars, by hiring excellent young research
students, postdocs, and faculty, and by funding, strengthening,
and growing already-existing high-quality programmes at such
institutions;
(c) Fund research infrastructure (e.g., computing facilities) at

individual institutions as well as infrastructure such as
laboratories and other research equipment that can be shared
across multiple institutions;
(d) Increase India’s role and participation in key areas of national and
global importance, and in major national and international
collaborations, through large-scale mission projects and
megaprojects;
(e) Act as a liason and coordinator amongst researchers, relevant

Central and State government bodies, and industry, so that
researchers are constantly connected with each other and with
potential collaborations (including with government and industry),
and so that policymakers are constantly made aware of the latest
research breakthroughs in the country – thus enabling
breakthroughs to be brought into policy or implementation in an
optimal fashion;
(f) Support the development of the next generation of researchers and

the long-term development of global-quality R&I through innovative
initiatives in education, including enhancing the cognitive and R&I
skills of students and new researchers through various online and
offline courses, workshops, conferences, and summer programmes
on topics of current research interest;
(g) Recommend and support various activities and initiatives for

increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented
groups in research;
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(h) Create a central clearinghouse for the collection, interpretation, and
analysis of information and data surrounding all research being
conducted in the country, which may be used by governmental
bodies and industry to guide their policies and directions;
(i) Recognise outstanding research and progress achieved via NRF

funding/mentoring across subjects and categories, through various
prizes and special seminars recognising the work of the researchers;
(j) Serve as a high-level think tank for the coordination and short- and
long-term planning of research in the country and for the
recommendation of key policy initiatives to the Prime Minister and
to Parliament regarding research, innovation, and education.
6.2 Building on Existing Strengths. Overall, the NRF will actively aim to
build on existing national strengths in R&I, while also filling in gaps in
the current research and education ecosystem, in order to take India’s
R&I achievements into a much higher orbit.
7. Scope and Structure of the NRF:
7.1 Structure of the National Research Foundation (NRF). The National

Research Foundation (NRF) will be established initially as a Society under
the Societies (Registration) Act, 1860, and will be governed by its
Memorandum and Articles of Association (MoA), regulations and bye-laws
framed thereunder. The Society will be registered in Delhi and will have a
pan-India jurisdiction. Within three years – once the details of the
methodology of the functioning of the NRF have stabilised – the NRF will,
by an Act of Parliament, become an autonomous body of the Government
of India. The NRF will have complete autonomy (with accountability and
internal checks and balances) in its functioning, with a robust system of
governance in accordance with the very best international practices, as
described in 7.2-7.7 below.
7.2 NRF Governing Board. The NRF will be governed by an 18-member NRF
Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals in
their respective fields. Experts may be drawn from within the country and
internationally, and iit is expected that about a third of the Board member
are women. In particular, for each Directorate, the NRF Board will contain
at least one member from a field represented by that Directorate, while
additional members would ideally represent multidisciplinary interests
across Directorates. Up to one third of the NRF Board would come from
industry and the philanthropic sector. NRF Board members will typically
serve six-year terms, with one third of its members rotating off the Board
every two years; the next batch of Board members will be elected by the
Board every two years. The Board will have a Chair who will be selected
by the Board members from amongst themselves. The NRF Board will be
the custodian of the vision of the NRF, and will meet at least four times a
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year, to set and approve priorities and programmes and ensure oversight
and course corrections as needed. The NRF Board, through its Offices,
will maintain connections with government and with industry, and will
ensure that the important research issues of the day are being addressed
by the NRF, and that government and industry are aware of the most
important research being supported by the NRF. Since the scope of the
NRF is wide-ranging – impacting all ministries - the NRF Board, through
its Chair and the NRF President, will report to the Prime Minister.
7.3 President, Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer. A President of

the NRF will be searched for and selected by the NRF Board, based on
research credentials, integrity, and capacity for leadership and
administration. Since the majority of the budget of the NRF would
necessarily go for research and innovation in science and technology, the
President of the NRF would generally be someone from the Natural
Sciences or Engineering, but who also has strong interests across
disciplines. The President will serve a six-year term at the rank of
Secretary to the Government of India. A Vice-President and Chief
Operation Officer (COO) will also be selected in the same way - with
suitable input from the President so that the three may work in harmony;
they will also serve six-year terms at the rank of Additional Secretaries to
the Government of India. The President and Vice-President would serve
as ex officio members of the NRF Board. They would be the primary
individuals responsible for oversight of administration, management,
development, budgeting, and short- and long-term planning of the NRF;
meanwhile, the COO would be responsible for the oversight of, and be
directly involved in, the day-to-day operational functions of the NRF. The
President of the NRF will periodically meet with Secretaries of all
Ministries and with Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories
in conference in order to assess their research needs and programmes,
and formulate potential collaborations. The President, Vice-President,
and COO will help set the culture of the NRF, which will be one of
excitement and encouragement for attaining high-quality research in
India across institutions and across fields. There will be no age limit on
the positions of President, Vice-President, and COO; the sole criteria for
these positions will be quality and capability.
7.4 Research Directorates. The NRF will consist of ten major Directorates –
Natural Sciences; Mathematical Sciences; Engineering; Environmental
and Earth Sciences; Social Sciences; Arts and Humanities; Indian
Languages and Knowledge Systems; Health; Agriculture; and Innovation
and Entrepreneurship – with the provision to fuse or add additional
Directorates whenever it may be determined to be beneficial by the Board
of the NRF. Each Directorate will have a Chair and Vice-Chair, appointed
by the NRF Board, who will oversee the missions of the Directorate, from
the development of policy priorities and administrative and management
guidelines, to guidelines for ethics within the disciplines of the
Directorate. The Chair and Vice-Chair will be assisted by a highly-
qualified staff.
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7.5 Divisions and Programmes under Each Directorate. Under each
Directorate would be a handful of Divisions (e.g., under the Mathematical
Sciences Directorate, there may be a Mathematics Division, a Computer
Science Division, a Statistics Division, and a Data Science Division). Each
Division would have a chairperson, namely, the Lead Programme Officer.
Each Division would run multiple Programmes of research that will each
be overseen by a Programme Officer who is highly-qualified in the
disciplines covered by the Programme. Some Programme Officers may
oversee more than one Programme. The Programme Officers will be key
persons within the NRF, who make the final recommendations regarding
funding proposals and who monitor the awarded projects within the
Programme. (See 8 for more details on the rigorous peer-review process
overseen by the Programme Officers.) It is estimated that the initial
number of Programmes may be around 100, but this would likely grow
over time. The Directorate Chairs and Vice-Chairs, and the Programme
Officers, may be long-term employees of the NRF on contracts that are
renewed regularly subject to performance evaluations, or they may be
shorter-term employees on loan for periods of up to four years from their
home institutions. The Directorate as a whole will have a rotating staff of
experts that include Advisors (who may serve as mentors for grant-
writing), Programme Analysts, Programme Assistants, Programme
Communications Specialists (to help write calls for proposals in each
Programme), and IT staff.
7.6 Administrative Structure. Working in parallel and in collaboration with

the Directorates will be a number of administrative Offices of the NRF,
each with its own Chair, Vice-Chair, and staff. These offices will include:
an Office of Budgeting, Accounting, and Grant Management (responsible
for carefully revising, formulating, and implementing budgets, managing
accounts, and administering grant funds); an Office of Data and
Information Management (responsible for collecting names of research
experts around the country and the world who may serve as Research
Mentors / NRF Professors, Programme Officers, members of Subject
Committees, peer reviewers, etc., for collecting and analysing relevant
data and information regarding NRF research grants and projects and on
Central and State government and industry research needs); an Office of
Mentoring (responsible for running research and innovation mentoring
programmes for school students – such as Dhruv – as well as mentoring
for faculty and institutions aiming to apply for NRF grants); an Office of
Diversity and Inclusion (responsible for monitoring and reporting that
grants are well-distributed across different types of institutions and
across geography, and across underrepresented groups); an Office of
Legislative and Public Affairs (responsible for communicating NRF’s
mission and research results to academia, government, industry, media,
and the general public); an Office of the Inspector General (responsible for
promoting efficiency and effectiveness in running programs and for
preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse, through regular audits
and direct reporting to the NRF Board twice a year); and an Office of
Development (responsible for developing relationships with government,
industry, and philanthropic bodies, and passing on relevant research
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needs and funds to Directorates and Research Offices). There will also be
two Research Offices that function very similarly to Directorates: an Office
of Integrative Research (responsible for collecting, suggesting, catalysing,
incubating, and overseeing initiatives, in collaboration across
Directorates, that capitalise on new interdisciplinary research ideas and
projects); and an Office of Missions and Megaprojects (responsible for
soliciting, evaluating through peer review, arranging funding for, and
overseeing the successful execution of outstanding proposals for large-
scale transformational national and international missions and
megaprojects). As with Directorates, Offices may be fused or additional
Offices may be added whenever it may be determined to be beneficial by
the Board of the NRF.
7.7 Funding for the NRF. The NRF will be given an annual grant that will
eventually aim to reach at least 0.1% of GDP (in current terms,
approximately Rs. 2 kharab or 20,000 crores) and will be conferred with
the autonomy to set its own finances, governance, and statutes. Given the
imperative to increase research and innovation activities widely and
across the country, this initial grant will be increased progressively over
the next decade as the country's capacity for quality research across fields
is developed. Any unspent funds in the initial years will be held towards
a corpus for the NRF which will be managed professionally for steady risk-
free return.
7.8 Funding Peer-Reviewed Research. The NRF will competitively fund

research in all disciplines across the academic landscape – from subjects
such as Medicine, Physics, Sustainable Farming, Artificial Intelligence,
and Nanoscience to Education, Sociology, Archaeology, Art History, and
Literature. The NRF may on occasion identify areas of research that are
of special importance to the country and prioritise funding to them, but it
will consider and fund outstanding proposals and researchers in all areas.
7.9 Seeding and Mentoring Research. In addition to directly funding

outstanding research proposals, the NRF will also help seed centres of
research in select disciplines at various universities, through providing
institutional funding, and bringing in research mentors as well as
postdocs and doctoral students, to grow an ecosystem for research at
institutions where it currently does not exist or is limited. These
mentorship programmes will include ones which stimulate research and
exploration in schools, particularly in resource- constrained contexts.
7.10 Establishing Linkages Across Academia, Government, and Industry.

The NRF, through its President and its Governing Board, will also act as
a liason between researchers, Central and State governmental bodies, and
industry, helping to ensure that the most urgent national issues of the
day (e.g., clean water, sanitation, clean energy) are well-studied by
researchers, and that the latest research breakthroughs are implemented
for the public good through policy in an efficient manner.
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7.11 Recognition and Promotion of Outstanding Research. The NRF will
recognise outstanding research progress (especially research funded by
the NRF), through NRF Prizes for and through the organisation of national
seminars on truly transformative research and the successful
seeding/growth of research at higher educational institutions.
7.12 Funding of Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, and Symposia.

Conferences and workshops in all disciplines and at all levels that further
the research goals of the country will also be funded through proposals
for the same. This includes outstanding workshops and summer intra-
and inter-university experiences for students to be introduced to and be
engaged in the research process. Funding to attend such conferences will
be provided to those that need it, with a special focus on participation
from women and other underrepresented groups.
7.13 Public Disclosure. All proposals funded, together with the amounts of
annual funding and duration of funding, annual updates on progress,
and final results achieved (all explained also in layperson terms) will be
publicly displayed on the NRF website.
7.14 Eligibility for receiving NRF funding. Researchers from all public and
private non-profit education and research institutions will be eligible to
compete for funding from the NRF.
7.15 Financial and Administrative Autonomy. The NRF will be fully

empowered administratively and financially so that it does not face
hurdles in funding good projects. The support for good research and
innovation will require, at its core, a high-quality internal management
process that links to a high-quality peer-review system. The NRF
President, reporting to the Board, will have full flexibility in staffing. This
will be done in consonance with recruitment and remuneration rules
which will be drafted and approved by the Board within three months of
the formation of the NRF. Government support to the NRF will come as a
block grant without delineating the sub-heads of research support into
human resources, consumables, and capital. The heads will be delineated
by the divisions within the NRF as appropriate to each field and specific
project. The NRF Board will have full flexibility in determining if and how
funds can move between heads. The NRF Board will also have flexibility
in determining the remuneration structure for fellowships and projects,
e.g., some areas, such as in clinical research and computer science may
require structures of fellowship and salary support that are different and
significantly higher than the norm. Detailed financial rules for the
operation of the NRF and NRF grants will be periodically updated and,
when approved by the NRF Board and reported to Cabinet will be deemed
government approval. Wherever explicit flexibility has not been specified,
GFR will be followed.
7.16 Other funding agencies. Institutions that currently fund research, such
as DST, DAE, DBT, ICAR, ICMR, ICSSR, ICPR, CIIL, UGC, etc., as well as
various private and philanthropic organisations, will continue to
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independently fund research according to their priorities and needs.
Many of the leading research-producing nations in the world have
multiple public and private funding agencies, and India would benefit
from the same. However, a centrally-established NRF that transparently
seeds, funds, and coordinates research across institutions in the country
- in all disciplines, in an integrated manner, with a special mandate to
foster research and innovation in Universities and Colleges, including
interdisciplinary research, not limited by any particular subject or
geographic interests, all through a robust system of peer review - is
distinct from the mandates of other organisations and will be critical in
building quality research capacity in universities and colleges across the
country.
7.17 High-Level Research Coordination Board of the NRF. The NRF will
coordinate in a very systematic manner with other funding agencies
through a High-Level Coordination Board headed by the PSA and
consisting of Secretaries or representatives of Ministries that fund
research, as well as Directors or representatives of other major funding
bodies, some of which were mentioned in 7.16, in order to ensure that
there is synergy of purpose, a sharing of results and methodologies,
beneficial collaboration and integration, and a lack of duplication of
efforts. The Coordination Board will meet at least twice a year, with
participation from representatives of the NRF, such as the President of the
NRF and/or Chairs of the NRF Board, Directorates, and Offices.
7.18 Real-time information and data collection. The NRF’s Office of

Information and Data Management will dynamically, on a near-real-time
basis, collect information on how the R&I ecosystem is supported by
public, private, industry, philanthropic, and other sources. This office will
provide this analysis publicly, to all stakeholders and to the Finance
Ministry. For the first time, this will allow the annual allocation of
financial support to each R&I funding agency to be based upon an
assessment of inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts – with the goal of
strengthening and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of all funding
organisations.
8. Funding Research Proposals through Rigorous Peer Review:
8.1 Calls for research proposals. Each year, each Programme of the NRF will
make public calls for research proposals of various types, according to a
standard calender. Divisions, Directorates, and Research Offices may also
choose to make public calls for proposals across Programmes, Divisions,
or Directorates, respectively. Directorates may choose to emphasise
certain subject areas within their disciplines according to national needs,
but all proposals within the discipline of the Directorate will be
considered. Interdisciplinary proposals, across two or more Directorates,
would be especially welcomed and encouraged. Proposals truly involving
multiple disciplines, and proposals on an especially large scale such as
missions and megaprojects, will generally be handled by the Office of
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Integrative Research and the Office of Missions and Megaprojects,
respectively, in coordination with the relevant Directorates. The NRF will
sppedily develop structures so that proposals can be submitted in any
official language.
8.2 Types of Proposals. Proposals of various types will be allowed, including

for: (i) research projects to be conducted by a single principal investigator
(PI); (ii) collaborative grants for inter- and intra-institutional projects; (iii)
initial capacity building by a mentor researcher and mentee institution;
(iv) capacity building to push institutions that are already conducting
research into a higher orbit; (v) well-envisioned consortia and conferences
that are likely to move forward research in the country; (vi) development
of courses, seminars, workshops, and summer programmes for students
to gain experience in cognitive thinking and research; (vii) research
facilities of national and international importance; and more rarely (viii)
larger and longer-duration projects/facilities of national importance or
inspiration. Proposals centred on science communication, citizen- science
and outreach will also be considered. (Capacity building as in (iii), (iv), and
(viii) will be elaborated on further in 9.)
8.3 Content of Proposals to Include Societal Impact. In addition to

describing the work to be carried out, with detailed resource and funding
requirements, proposals will also describe any societal impact expected
and sought, e.g., the training of students and postdocs, public outreach,
cleaning of a river, elimination of a disease, increasing agricultural yields,
taking strides towards gender and social equality, preservation of ancient
manuscripts and artefacts, preservation of Indian languages, etc.
Appreciating the importance of science- communication to the public at
large, proposals can include requests for support for such effort.
8.4 Duration of Funded Projects. Research proposals would generally be for

projects of three-year duration; however, for truly outstanding proposals
of likely-high impact, proposals of five years or even longer in exceptional
cases would be considered.
8.5 Assessing and funding quality research proposals through a system

of rigorous peer review. All proposals received within each Programme
will be handled by the respective Programme Officers, who will arrange
for rigorous peer reviews of all serious proposals by Subject Committees
consisting of experts, drawn nationally or internationally, in the
Programme subject areas. Such reviews will be carried out by members
of the Subject Committees themselves, or in instances where there is not
sufficient expertise or capacity within the Subject Committee, by sending
for outside peer reviews, national or international, as necessary. A key
aspect of the peer-review process will be the absence of conflicts of
interest: committee members will recuse themselves and leave the room
during discussions of proposals of their colleagues from the same
institution, of their collaborators, advisors/mentees, or family members,
or from institutions that have funded or paid them in the recent past;
committee members will not participate in the writing of the reviews in
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such cases. All funding recommendations for proposals will be made by
Subject Committees and Programme Officers based on the resulting peer
reviews. Final decisions regarding the funding of proposals will be made
by the Lead Programme Officers of each Division in accordance with the
respective Programme Officer, Subject Committee, and peer review
recommendations. Proposals recommended for funding will be submitted
to the Office of Budgeting, Accounting, and Grant Management, whose
financial experts will review the budget of each proposal and, if necessary,
work with proposers and their institutions (in consultation with
Programme Officers) to potentially revise the budget and financial
requests to ensure efficiency in budget and grant management while not
compromising on the goals of the project. A detailed agreement will then
be sent to proposers to sign as per NRF rules and conditions relevant to
the project. Regardless of whether an award is made, peer reviews will
also be made available to the writers of each proposal, without revealing
the names of the specific referees, in order to provide proposers with
valuable feedback. For most proposals, the whole review process will aim
to be completed in six months from the date of the submission of the
proposal.
8.6 Awards to be well-distributed across different types of institutions

and across geography. In choosing proposals to be awarded, it will be
taken into account to be equitable and inclusive, ensuring that awards
are distributed across different types of institutions and across the
geography of India. This will be facilitated by the Office of Diversity and
Inclusion through data collection, recruitment of proposals from
outstanding candidates, and mentoring. In particular, special attempts
will be made to award grants to outstanding proposals from investigators
from underrepresented groups, including women, in order to truly ensure
that research capacity is grown across India.
8.7 Approach to funds disbursal. Funds for successful proposals will be

released annually, and in a timely manner, to the researchers'
institutions, subject to receipt of annual detailed reports describing
progress and spending. The Office of Budgeting, Accounting, and Grant
Management will set up procedures for and work with institutions to
ensure efficient financial administration of the grant. Suitable overhead
expenses will be provided to the recipient institutions for administration
of the grant.
8.8 Oversight and coordination by Programme Officers. Funded projects

within each Programme will be overseen end-to-end, in terms of funding,
advice, progress, and completion, by the corresponding Programme
Officer, who will also serve as the point of contact for PIs, and will
annually report to the Lead Programme Officer on the status of each
funded proposal, who in turn will report to the Directorate Chair.
8.9 Assessment and Accountability. The NRF will not only revamp and
energise the current funding and support mechanisms for research in the
country, but will also shift the culture of research into one of
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accountability and the responsible use of funds. Initial funding will be
provided only if the proposal clears a specified, high, benchmark. Progress
reports with transparent disclosures of the use of funds, and the results
achieved, will be submitted by the writers and host institutions of funded
proposals each year. The NRF will expect the host institutions to ensure
fiduciary accountability for the research project, and will set up specific
reporting mechanisms for the host institutions for this purpose; the NRF
will also periodically conduct audits to ascertain appropriate responsible
usage of funds. Assessment of outcomes of research annually will be
carried out on quality metrics that will be pre-specified and agreed upon
(suitably taking into account the risks inherent in research). NRF will
attain further accountability by ensuring that only investigators who
handle their initial funding well and with integrity will receive new funds
in the future.
8.10 Intellectual Property to belong to researchers. In accordance with

international best practice, all intellectual property rights, including
publications and patents, of NRF-funded research will be retained solely
by those carrying out the research, while giving the government (including
any of its assigned agencies) the license to use, practice, or implement the
research/invention (or any of its output) for the public good without
payment of any royalty or charge. In cases where NRF funding is being
provided by a public-sector, private, or philanthropic entity for a
particular research project (see 11.3-11.7), this entity would also receive,
along with the government, the same royalty- and charge-free license to
utilise the research and its output.
9. Building Research Capacity in Universities and Colleges:
9.1 Approach to Building Capacity. In addition to funding peer-reviewed

research proposals from around the nation, an important mandate of the
NRF will be to seed, grow, and facilitate research at institutions in India
where currently research is very limited. A key aspect of NRF's approach
to build research capacity will be to utilise and bring outstanding serving
or retired researchers from research universities and institutions to help
seed and mentor research at State Universities and other universities and
colleges where research is currently only in a nascent stage; outstanding
researchers selected by NRF for the purpose will also contribute to the
mentoring process, helping new researchers and institutions with grant-
writing and with the appropriate set-up of research infrastructure and
grant administration. Growing outstanding research cells already existing
at State Universities will also be a top priority of the NRF. Finally,
providing doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships to outstanding young
researchers to join and help lead research programmes around the
country will round out NRF's three-pronged approach to building
research capacity at universities and colleges.
9.2 Encouraging proposals that help build research capacity at State

Universities. A number of specific types of proposals will be sought to
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help build capacity at State Universities and other universities/colleges
that currently have limited research capability. These will include:
(a) Seeding research at State Universities through Research

Mentors / NRF Professorships: Serving or retiring faculty at
research universities and institutions who are still active in
research may choose to serve as Research Mentors (in the form of
‘NRF Professorships’) at Universities and Colleges where research
is currently in a nascent stage, particularly State Universities. Such
a potential Research Mentor would submit to the NRF, in
conjunction with a faculty member or a department chair at the
desired state institution as a co-PI, a detailed research project
proposal that describes how existing and new faculty members at
the State Institution, as well as new postdocs and students, could
participate in this project to grow a research cell(s). The proposal
would be accompanied by an appropriate commitment from a
university authority to suitably host the mentor and the proposed
research project. Successful grants, given for an initial (but
renewable) 3-5 year period, will provide Mentors with salaries (over
and above their pensions to bring them to up to their original salary
level) as well as research funding for the project, including for
infrastructure, postdocs, and graduate students. Research Mentors
at the State University would work not only on the proposed
research project, but would also teach at least one accessible course
a year to connect to the university community, and would also
advise the university and its departments on growing a culture of
research to transform into a research- conducting institution. There
will be no age limit for Research Mentors; they will be permitted to
serve as Research Mentors and apply for funding for as long as they
are active and add value to their institutions. The talents of
outstanding retired research faculty in the country are currently
severely underutilised (many often leave the country when close to
retirement age); this initiative, and the establishment of prestigious
NRF Professorships at State Universities and colleges, will provide
an invaluable opportunity to employ their expertise to expand
research culture across the country.
(b) Growing existing research at State Universities: Outstanding

research project proposals will be sought from all institutions of
higher education and research across the country. However, special
consideration for funding will be given to research being conducted
at State Universities and other such universities and colleges where
research capacity is currently limited. In particular, grants to build
infrastructure (especially infrastructure that could be shared
across many research groups), to fund travel and collaboration, and
to hire doctoral students and postdocs, in order to grow existing
and promising research programmes or seed new outstanding
research programmes at locations where merit and expertise have
been established, will be prioritised for State Universities and other
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such HEIs (The NRF Board will formulate an inclusive and broad
definition of HEIs) .
(c) NRF Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships: Bringing in young

research talent will be key to developing research cultures at
educational institutions. For this purpose, NRF will launch a large
and prestigious system of doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships to
be used particularly at State Universities. NRF will maintain a list
of doctoral and postdoctoral positions and projects that arise from
the successful proposals in (a) and (b) above and will make a public
call for applications for these positions. Outstanding applicants
may apply for one or more of these positions based on their areas
of interest and expertise. PIs or co-PIs in (a) and (b) may be
consulted on the suitability of potential NRF Doctoral and
Postdoctoral Fellowship candidates for their respective projects.
NRF fellows will have opportunities to attend training workshops
that enhance their teaching, leadership and mentoring skills. NRF
fellows will be eligible to competitively apply for enhancement to
their fellowships that require them to teach or mentor- research in
schools or colleges addition to their research and other institutional
commitments.
9.3 Mentoring for grant applications and outcomes. The NRF will not only
provide funds but, as part of capacity building, applicants from
institutions where research is only in nascent stages, but who submit
research proposals of the level that could potentially be funded by the
NRF, will be assisted by one or more Programme Advisors at NRF - who
will be specifically commissioned by NRF for this purpose - to help bring
the writing of the research applications up to the quality levels sought by
NRF, before the application is put through the official review process of
Subject Committees. Researchers of the above type that then receive
funding will similarly be mentored and supported as needed throughout
the funding period, to conduct research, to optimally use funds, and to
deliver on the desired outcomes. Mentoring will also be provided to
institutions and institutional leaders who wish to gradually transform
their HEIs into more research-oriented colleges and universities.
9.4 Capacity building through large, long-term missions or megaprojects.

NRF will consider funding larger national and international projects, in
particular those that help build research, teaching, and other capacities
at universities or that have a direct impact on society or fundamental
knowledge in other ways. Examples of larger research projects of this type
could include: a) nationwide projects to clean rivers: universities located
near rivers could discuss the latest research on cleaning rivers - in a
teaching and/or a research context - and participate on a mass scale in
the practical aspects of this research at their own local rivers (leading to
both scientific advancement and lessons in social responsibility); b)
projects to bring clean energy to villages: universities located across the
country could discuss the best clean energy solutions for their areas, and
help implement these in their localities; c) nationwide projects to eliminate
19
diseases such as malaria; c) novel methods to teach literacy, or to preserve
local languages, arts, or culture, that could be researched, developed and
implemented by universities in their local communities across the
country; d) scientific megaprojects where many universities could
participate in analysing and interpreting the large amounts of data
produced. See 10 for more details.
9.5 Focus on underrepresented groups. A key aspect of increasing research

capacity will involve the support of proposals and of activities to increase
the participation of underrepresented groups, including women, in
research. Innovative measures that further this goal, such as special
research workshops and conferences for talented women students, or at
institutions in rural areas / Aspirational Districts / Special Education
Zones, will be supported.
9.6 Funding international collaborations and attendance at international

workshops. International research collaborations and attendance at
international workshops will be encouraged and supported by the NRF,
especially in areas where India does not yet have enough research
strength on its own. In particular, special efforts and special schemes will
be launched to strengthen international collaboration that leverages the
Indian diaspora, which is seen as an important asset for research,
innovation, and entrepreneurship in the country. Funding will also be
provided for national and international travel for researchers to gain
research perspectives from abroad.
9.7 Other Research-Capacity-Building Measures. NRF may help address

the issues of capacity building at universities and colleges across the
country through the creation of new technological capabilities and
research infrastructure that may be shared across universities in a given
geographical region, upgradation of different technologies, boosting
fundamental research in university settings, as well as facilitating
exchanges of scholars. NRF will work alongside all other funding agencies
for this purpose.
9.8 Role of Academies: Academics associated with the national science and
engineering academies and learned societies in the humanities and social
sciences can add considerable value to the efforts of NRF. NRF can
commission the academies and learned societies to produce expert
reports and provide valuable advice on various topics that will help direct
government efforts particularly with regard to government policy issues
on research and education. Academies can also contribute greatly to
capacity building for teachers and for researchers: their members can be
mentors to university departments and colleges as these institutions seek
to improve the quality of their teaching and research. NRF will aim to
facilitate such linkages, especially to State Universities.
10. Large Inter-disciplinary Projects, Missions, and Megaprojects
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10.1 Large Inter-disciplinary Projects, Missions, and Megaprojects to
inspire and propel the country forward. High-impact, large-scale,
multi-PI, multi-institution and, in some cases, interdisciplinary or multi-
nation projects will also be pursued by the NRF to inspire and propel the
country forward. Such interdisciplinary or large-scale projects will
primarily be coordinated by the Research Offices of the NRF: the Office of
Integrative Research and the Office of Missions and Megaprojects. Their
call will be to choose truly outstanding projects that aim to advance areas
of national importance, inspire youth and the people of the country, and
grow India’s position as a global leader.
10.2 Research Offices to function similarly to Directorates. Like the

Directorates of the NRF, the Research Offices of the NRF will make calls
for proposals within identified thrust areas, yet accept all outstanding
proposals in all areas within their mandates. They will similarly have a
Chair, Vice-Chair, and a team of expert Programme Officers who, in
collaboration with Directorates, will arrange for peer reviews and review
committees of national and international expertise, in order to make
informed funding recommendations to the Office Chair and thereby to the
NRF President and Board. Research Offices will also work with and help
Directorates to establish robust and reliable review committees when the
scale of a proposal is beyond the purview of any individual Directorate.
The Office of Integrative Research will primarily be involved in making
calls for, handling reviews of, and funding outstanding interdisciplinary
and multidisciplinary proposals; the Office of Missions and Megaprojects
will oversee India’s participation in large-scale missions and
megaprojects. The two Offices may work together on some of the proposals
and projects where relevant.
10.3 National Mission Projects. The NRF, through its Office of Missions and
Megaprojects, will fund National Mission Projects (NMPs) that help create
or grow world class research facilities and Centres of Excellence in major
thrust areas of research that are considered important for India’s future.
Each NMP would aim to establish or continue to support and grow an
existing global class research Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the given
mission, run by top researchers in the field, who in turn would aim to
establish and expand (including through mentoring) a network of
participating researchers/students/institutions/labs across the region or
the nation in order to promote a regional or national research ecosystem
in the given field; the CoE may recommend funding to other
institutions/researchers for the purpose through the NRF. Examples of
missions that are considered important for India’s future at the current
time include: artificial intelligence, big data analytics, water bodies
rejuvenation technologies, sustainable habitats, sustainable agriculture,
eradication of disease, climate science, preservation of manuscripts and
artefacts, preservation and promotion of Indian languages, etc.
10.4 Megaprojects. The Office of Missions and Megaprojects will also, from
time to time, help fund participation in `moonshots’ and `research
megaprojects’, i.e., large-scale research projects that may take years to
21
carry out, may be worked on by multiple institutions or countries, may be
funded by multiple agencies, and have the potential to be truly
transformational and inspirational in a field or impact a huge number of
lives. Such projects enable a country to connect and contribute to
research and build research capacity at the very highest global level with
national and international collaboration. Examples of some international
research megaprojects that India is currently participating in include the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave
Observatory (LIGO), and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). Proposals for
other types of national and international research megaprojects, relating,
e.g., to new and emerging technologies that have the potential to improve
the human condition, will also be handled by the Office of Missions and
Megaprojects.
11. Creating Beneficial Linkages Among Government, Industry, and

Researchers:
11.1 The importance of linking researchers with government and

industry. At the current time, there is no direct link between research
being conducted at institutions in the country and relevant government
entities (both Central and State), which makes it much more difficult for
breakthroughs in research and innovation to be implemented for the
benefit of society. The NRF will help in playing this linking role, including
connecting domain expertise with government policy making. The NRF
will also help link both researchers and government with industry, in
order to increase collaboration and synergy of purpose with respect to
research, innovation, and implementation among all three parties. The
NRF, through the President and the Director’s Office, the Board, and the
Office of Development, will stay in constant contact with relevant
government entities and with industry for this purpose. The Board, in
particular, will also contain representatives from industry. Similarly, the
NRF will stay in close touch with agencies that support the
entrepreneurial, start-up, and commercialisation ecosystem.
11.2 Collaborations with Government and the Private Sector. In addition

to the annual grant to the NRF from the Government of India (GoI), NRF
may also receive additional funds (as outlined below) from various
ministries of the GoI and from State governments for funding research.
Similarly, Public-Sector Units (PSUs), the private sector, and
philanthropic organisations will also be encouraged to fund research of
interest to them through the NRF. The infrastructure that will be created
by the NRF for end-to-end management of the life-cycle of research
projects, covering evaluation of proposals, disbursement of funds,
mentoring for helping to achieve project goals, and regular monitoring and
assessment of research outcomes, will be invaluable to ministries and
other agencies that require research towards their own endeavours.
Different models of collaboration between the NRF and ministries and
other governmental entities, industry, and philanthropic organisations
can be explored.
22
11.3 Research requirements of ministries. Many government ministries
have research needs that are not being met at the present time. Several
ministries have research cells that are largely not functional. NRF will
offer its expertise to ministries for their research needs. Research of
interest to ministries will be funded via the same mechanisms as set up
by the NRF, namely, national calls for proposals, peer-review via
empowered Subject Committees (a representative from the relevant
ministry may also be included on the Committee for this purpose),
allocation and disbursement of funds, mentoring, and monitoring of
progress. It is likely that over time funding from ministries will grow into
becoming say 2% or more of their budgets as they see value in their
association with and the research work carried out through the NRF.
11.4 Research requirements of State Governments. The contribution to

research spending by State governments has been negligible so far, just
7% of the budget for 2015-16, according to the DST. States may wish to
fund areas of research of special interest to their geography through the
NRF, e.g., for health and disease control, or for the promotion and
preservation of State languages, literature, arts, culture, artifacts,
manuscripts, heritage sites, etc. through suitable research (again, a
representative from the State could be included on the relevant Subject
Committees if so desired).
11.5 Non-strategic aspects of strategic research establishments. There are

many areas of basic research that strategic departments would find useful
to meet their varied requirements. These include basic research on
materials, fluid dynamics, cryptography, coding theory, atmospheric
sciences, electro-optics, lasers, nanoscience, scientific aspects of
hydrogen as a fuel, photo-voltaic, machine learning, basic semi-conductor
physics, quantum information and quantum computing, as well as
various areas of study in the social sciences, humanities, and languages.
One should see an expanded fundamental research activity coming out of
the demands of the strategic departments which could also similarly be
carried out through the NRF structure, in addition to research carried out
directly by the strategic sector.
11.6 Research requirements of other government entities. Other

government entities (including from States) may also wish to similarly
have research carried out by the NRF for their research needs.
11.7 Research requirements of industry and other organisations. Public

and private sector enterprises and organisations, including philanthropic
organisations, will also be given the opportunity to similarly participate
in NRF's research mechanisms. Providing funds for specific research
needs through the NRF will have the advantage of helping enterprises and
organisations identify academic groups in the country with the expertise
they are looking for, through NRF’s competitive calls for proposals. They
will also benefit from the peer-review process of the NRF for allocation of
projects to specific research groups, and be able to ensure that their
23
research projects receive adequate oversight. The process of funding
research through the NRF will also help develop links between academia
and the concerned public and private sector companies and
organisations. Subject Committees of the NRF may each contain one
representative from the respective organisations during deliberations of
funding from these sources.
In any given year, no more than one third of NRF's total funding budget
would come from public and private enterprises and other private
organisations for specific research requests. All such research requests
would be decided on a case-by-case basis by the Governing Board and
Divisional Councils of the NRF, based on assessment of the potential for
national benefit, funding offered, and NRF's ability, expertise in, and
previous involvement with the general area.
General donations to NRF, even if they are for a given recognised subject,
e.g., for Health, Agriculture, Literature, Physics, etc. (but not for a specific
research project, need, or request) will have no restriction on amounts
donated from any organisation.
It is suggested that all public and private sector enterprises will contribute
a small percentage, say at least .1%, of their annual profits to research
(such as donations for research to the NRF). This could be done within or
outside CSR funds, and such contributions would come with suitable tax
incentives.
A legislative route to make industry contributions to NRF research and

donations to NRF projects eligible for weighted deductions (in the manner
of Section 35 of IT Act) will be speedily initiated.
11.8 NRF as a linking entity among researchers, government entities, and

the private sector. The NRF Board, through its Offices and Committees,
will monitor the functioning of the NRF; in the process, it will receive
recommendations from Subject Committees and Programme Officers on
outstanding research progress occurring in the country, which the Board
(through its President, Chair, and the Office of Development) may convey
to relevant government and industry entities for possible implementation
of such research by the government or public-private partnerships for
national benefit. Conversely, suggestions and requests from government
entities as well as industry regarding important directions for the
country's research may help guide the NRF.
12. Recognising Outstanding Research Funded by NRF Through Awards

and National Seminars:
12.1 Recognition of truly outstanding research through awards and

national seminars. The NRF will institute a system of awards for truly
successful research (by individuals as well as teams of researchers) taking
place in the nation, and in particular funded by the NRF. The awards will
24
be given across divisions and subjects, and in a number of categories,
e.g., for postdocs and young un-tenured faculty, for institutions (and the
people involved) for successful efforts in seeding and growing research
where it was previously limited, for initiatives in student education and
research training, and for initiatives in promoting diversity and inclusion.
The NRF will also organise national seminars and public lectures on
outstanding research (including research in education) to encourage the
award-winning researchers as well as other scholars and members of the
public to get involved in the important issues that the research addresses.
13. Initial Setup:
13.1 NRF Infrastructure. A portion of the initial year’s funding for the NRF
will go to constructing/securing a suitable campus and building(s) that
are conducive to outstanding performance with respect to NRF’s various
activities. The NRF will require suitable contiguous office space that
houses, in one location, the President, Vice-President, COO, as well as the
various Directorates and Offices of the NRF, in addition to spaces for
hosting review panels and Board Meetings. The building should include
spaces for services that uphold the workings of the NRF, such as
administration, finance and IT. The NRF campus/infrastructure will also
have a library, meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and an auditorium. The
architecture of the NRF campus/infrastructure will naturally have an
immeasurable effect on the work culture of the NRF.
13.2 Allocations to Directorates: The Directorates enumerated in 7.4 will be

directly allocated 2/3 of the total research funds of the NRF, in the initially
suggested ratios of 8 : 4 : 8 : 4 : 2 : 1 : 1 : 8 : 4 : 4. These suggested ratios
are not meant in any way to be indicative of the relative importance of
these fields, but rather of the actual costs of research and the current
absorptive capacities in these research areas in the nation. The remaining
1/3 of the research funds of the NRF will be at the discretion of the
President and the Board of the NRF, in consultation with the Office of
Integrative Research and the Office of Missions and Megaprojects, to fund
(in collaboration with relevant Directorates and other funding agencies)
larger interdisciplinary projects, missions, and megaprojects, and to
provide additional funds as needed to Directorates / Divisions /
Programmes / Research Offices in cases of a larger-than-expected
number of outstanding proposals within a Directorate or Research Office
in a given year (thus providing an important flexibility to the initially
suggested ratios). All unused funds will be carried over within each
Directorate to the next year and not lost, in order to help ensure that
funds are provided only to outstanding proposals. The total funds allotted
to each Directorate and Research Office will be fine-tuned year-to-year by
the Board of the NRF based on previous years’ experiences with quality of
proposals, quality of outcomes, ongoing projects, regular assessments of
national research needs, and the development of absorptive capacity for
research in the country within each area, as will be carefully monitored,
25
analysed, and documented on a regular basis by the Office of Data and
Information Management.
13.3 Society Founders and First Board. The members of the PM-STIAC will
be the founders of the Society. The first Board will be chosen at the time
of the founding of the Society and will consist of some of the most
accomplished and eminent researchers and professionals having a wide
range of expertise across fields. The members of the first Board shall be
recommended by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor - after wide
consultations with academia, government, and industry - to the Prime
Minister for approval.
13.4 Personnel Matters. All employees of the NRF will be on fixed-term

contracts whose terms of renewal will be based upon performance
reviews. In order to be able to draw the best people from academia and
industry, detailed recruitment, promotion, and superannuation rules for
the President, Vice-President, COO, Directorate and Office Chairs,
Programme Officers, and high-quality senior Administrative Staff will be
framed by the NRF and approved by the Board following the principles
outlined in 7.15. To this end, the Board will have a standing Recruitment,
Promotion, and Compensation Subcommitttee which will continuously
review and set the rules and regulations for personnel matters of the NRF.
14. Financial Implication:
14.1 Infrastructure. The infrastructure for the NRF will accommodate the
Office of the President and up to 10 Directorates across research
disciplines and 10 administrative Offices. Cabins for senior staff and their
executive assistants, and shared seating areas for all other staff members,
will be created and suitably grouped into Directorates, Divisions, and
Offices. There shall also be breakout spaces where discussions among
people from different Directorates and Offices can take place.
There shall also be adequate space devoted to other areas of shared use
such as a library, cafeteria, tea and coffee areas, board room, lounge,
auditorium, several meeting rooms and classrooms of different sizes, as
well as spaces for IT services, housekeeping needs, and so on.
The quality of the spaces being created must be inspirational and of

international quality so as to support the high aspirations that the
country has from the NRF.
The infrastructure may be stand-alone, or it may be adjacent to an

existing research campus in order to enable the sharing of some of the
above-mentioned areas such as the cafeteria, etc. and to enable and foster
a more vibrant research community.
Space required:
26
The Office of the President will include a main cabin of offices, a
discussion room cum lounge, meeting room, lobby, pantry, and reception,
and will initially house approximately 10 staff members including the
President, Vice-President, and COO. It is estimated that the space
required for the Office of the President will be approximately 600 Sqm.
The 10 Directorates will initially have an average of 4 divisions each; each

Division would have a Chair, Vice-Chair, approximately four Programme
Officers, including the Lead Programme Officer, and 4 technical staff, for
a total of 40 staff members per Directorate on average. Each Directorate
would also have one or more meeting rooms for discussions with grantees
and for internal discussions. The estimated space required for each
Directorate will on average be 800 Sqm.
The 10 Offices will each have a Chair and Vice-Chair, along with about
15 technical staff, on average (some Offices would require a greater
number of staff and consequently a greater amount of space, such as the
Office of Budgeting, Accounting, and Grant Management), for a total of
about 17 staff per Office on average. A number of the offices would require
meeting rooms, particularly the Office of Budgeting, Account, and Grant
Management, and the Office of Integrative Research, for discussions with
Directorates, grantees, and internal discussions. The estimated space
required for each Office will, on average, be 400 Sqm.
An auditorium of 200-person capacity would be approximately 300 Sqm,

a library an additional 250 Sqm, an office of IT and computer facilities at
200 Sqm, a Board room, meeting halls, classrooms, and breakout spaces
of around 1000 Sqm, and a common cafeteria and recreational/fitness
facilities would require an additional 500 Sqm each. Utility
services/substation and security would likely require an additional 1000
Sqm.
The initial built up area is thus expected to be 600 + (10 x 800) + (10 x
400) + 3750 = 16350 Sqm, plus additional areas for reception, corridors,
lobby spaces, restrooms, staircases, lifts, service spaces @ 40% of 16350
Sqm, i.e., 6540 Sqm, for a total of about 22890 Sqm. (See Annexure 1.)
Cost of construction
a. Basic cost of construction of the main building (22890 Sqm at Rs.

50046.12) = ₹114.56 cr.
b. Cost of furnishing at 20% of the basic cost of construction = ₹22.91 cr.
c. Improved specification and architectural features at 10% of the basic

cost of construction = ₹11.46 cr.
d. Contingencies at 3% of the basic cost of constuction = ₹3.78 cr.
27
e. Escalation for 3 years at 7.5% of the costs of construction per annum
= ₹29.21 cr.
f. Labour cess at 1% of the cost of construction = ₹1.59 cr.
g. Costs of other allied expenditures such as power supply, water supply,

architectural services and project management = ₹22.68 cr.
h. Escalation for 3 years at 7.5% of allied expenditures per annum =

₹10.26 cr.
i. GST at 12% of total costs = ₹25.78 cr.
Total cost of construction of 22890 Sqm on an entirely new campus,

including all external services, cafeteria, and other ancillary
buildings : ₹242.23 Cr. (See Annexure 2.)
The above cost of construction does not include the cost of land. As the
NRF would be a significant source of local employment and a prestigious
institution for a State/UT to host, the aim would be to acquire land at
minimal cost from a State/UT.
The above costing is based on the present cost index applicable to Delhi
as per 2019 CPWD guidelines, and may vary depending on the actual
location.
If the facility is constructed adjacent to an existing campus, where

services can be shared, costs of construction may be reduced by about
10%, or about ₹17.5 crore, due to possible sharing of common facilities
such as the cafeteria, water and electric supplies, etc.
Annual maintenance costs of the NRF infrastructure are estimated to be

around 10% of construction costs, as per usual practice, or approximately
₹23.6 crore annually.
Extent of land required
A minimum of 5 acres of land will be required, as service facilities will

need to be constructed away from the main building, including for fire
tender movement and the provision of sufficient parking and greenery
around the building.
Somewhat larger amounts of land would allow for a `campus’ and a more
robust research and education environment and also provide room for
future expansion in accordance with the growth and success of the NRF.
28
It would be preferable to establish the facility adjacent to an existing
research campus, as it will reduce maintenance / running costs, as well
as help to develop a more vibrant research / education community.
Realisation in a phased manner
1st and 2nd year: Operation from leased premises of about 7650 Sqm at
₹2196 per Sqm per month. Leasing costs are thus estimated at ₹24.2
crores per year (depending on the city and location). About one half of the
NRF staff envisaged in this document will be recruited by the end of the
second year.
End of 2nd year: Completion of Phase I of construction, after which the
aforementioned staff of the NRF may move into the NRF facility.
5th Year: Completion of Phase II of construction, by which time the full
cohort of staff as envisaged in this document may be recruited and move
into the NRF facility.
Future years: Further phase(s) of construction could be taken up in
future years in accordance with the growth and success of the NRF.
Total costs for infrastructure
The total costs for infrastructure, including the leasing of temporary space
and the construction of new space, is thus expected to be about
₹242.23+24.2+24.2+23.6+23.6 = ₹337.83 cr for the first five years.
14.2 Salaries. Salaries for the President, Vice-President, COO, Directorate and
Office Chairs, Programme Officers, and high-quality Administrative Staff
numbering about 532 people by the fifth year are estimated to be in total
about ₹19.65 crores per year for the first two years, and about ₹39.3 crores
per year for the remaining three years of the initial 5-year period, for a
total of ₹157.2 crores over the first five years. These estimates arise taking
into account that only about one half of the total NRF staff envisaged in
this document will be recruited by the end of the second year. The
remaining staff as described in this document will be recruited by the end
of the fourth year. See Annexure 3.
14.3 Funding for research. All remaining (i.e., over 98% of) funds of the NRF
will be used to support research in accordance with the robust procedures
of merit-peer-review and equity described in this document.
Seeding Research at State Universities through NRF Professorships

One of the foremost aims of the NRF will be to seed research at
Universities and Colleges where research is currently nonexistent or in
nascent stages, particularly State Universities, where 90% of the
country’s faculty and students work and study.
29
To this end, the NRF will aim to fund 100 prestigious NRF Professorships
at such Universities and Colleges each year across the country and across
disciplines. These 5-year renewable positions will be occupied by the
highest-quality researchers, who will move to their chosen
Universities/Colleges to launch new high-quality research cells. To enable
this, these Professorships will come with a seed 5-year grant (of about 5
crores on average) and include positions for postdoctoral and doctoral
fellows. The average estimated cost for each NRF Professorship, including
the seed grant and associated research positions, will be approximate
₹8.44 cr, for a total cost of about ₹4220 cr over five years. See Annexure
4.
Centers of Excellence
Each year, proposals will be invited for establishing Centres of Excellence
at higher education institutions in areas of critical national importance,
such as Machine Learning, Environmental Science, Preservation of Indian
Languages, Museum Administration, etc. Many of these Centres will aim
to work in an interdisciplinary manner. It is estimated that 20 such
Centres of Excellence, along with associated research funding, will be
established by the NRF over the period of five years, at an average cost of
₹300 cr each, for a total cost of ₹6000 cr.
National Mission Projects

Two nationwide multi-institution ‘National Mission Projects’ of critical
national importance or inspiration (including participation in
international magaprojects such as LIGO) will be funded every year, on
average, with an expected cost of ₹1000 cr per Mission over 5 years. The
total cost is thus expected to be ₹10,000 cr over 5 years.
Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships

The NRF will initially select and fund 500 Doctoral and 500 Postdoctoral
Fellowships each year to outstanding candidates across fields (and thus
about 50 Doctoral and 50 Postdoctoral Fellowships per Directorate), and
increase to 1000 Doctoral and 1000 Postdoctoral Fellowships each year
(i.e., about 100 Doctoral and 100 Postdoctoral Fellowships per Directorate
on average). Fellowships will come with associated contingencies, such as
basic conference travel funding, 10% grant overhead for the institutions
they join, etc. The total cost per year of the NRF Doctoral and Postdoctoral
Fellowships Programme will be ₹39.56 lakhs x 4500 + ₹37.48 lakhs x 4500
over the first five years, or about ₹3467cr. See Annexure 5.
Funding of Grants
A major goal of the NRF will be to fund good people with good ideas, across
fields, wherever they may be located. Proposals of all kinds to this end will
be invited by the NRF from individuals and groups of individuals
30
across institutions. The aim will be to increase, over time, the resource
absorption capacity for high-quality research in the nation.
The NRF will aim to select and fund 320 high-quality 3-year projects per
Directorate (about 20 projects per Programme Officer), thus eventually
building to about 960 Active Projects per year per Directorate (thus about
60 active projects handled by each Programme Officer at any given time).
Each project is expected to cost 1.67 crore on average. Naturally, applied
science, engineering, and health projects will require more funding on
average than projects in the humanities and theoretical sciences. Many
of these projects would be interdisciplinary, and suitably shared across
Directorates, as coordinated by the Office of Integrated Research. It is
understood that there may well be a larger number of projects than
estimated, many of which would, however, require far smaller amounts of
grant money.
The total cost for the first five years towards high-quality grant funding
will thus be about 10 x 320 x ₹1.67 cr x 5 = ₹26,720 cr. See Annexure 6.
Total funds required
The total funding required for the NRF over the first five years will be Rs.
₹26720+3465+10000+6000+3925+157.2+337.8 = ₹50905 cr over 5
years. See Annexure 7.
14.4 Further funding. Through its Office of Development, the NRF will aim to
raise additional resources and develop partnerships with industry and
philanthropy. Additional projects may thus be suggested and funded by
the private sector through the NRF, making use of NRF’s extensive
experience with calls for proposals, peer-reviews, and funding and
auditing mechanisms. The aim will be to have 20% of all funding to be
coming from private sources within five years, and up to over 30% by the
end of ten years. The Office of Development, together with the President
and NRF Board Members, will continuously work to secure private
funding to enhance NRF’s research footprint on the nation.
It is important to reiterate three points here. First, the NRF will support
quality research. For quality research proposals to be submitted, and for
the associated mentorship programmes to succeed, the budget will need
to be fully supported as will the quality and number of staff in the NRF.
Second, raising outside resources and developing partnerships with
industry will be a major task in itself and will require dedicated staff.
Finally, foundational research support from government is necessary and
will always be needed in a knowledge-driven economy and society.
14.5 Administrative costs. In the current model, the total administrative cost
(including infrastructure and salaries) will be less than 1% of the total
budget of the NRF. In accordance with national and international best
practices, even if administrative costs increase in the future, it will
nevertheless be aimed at all times that the cost of administering NRF
31
research funding will remain no more than 2% of the total budget of the
NRF, in order to ensure always that the vast majority of NRF funds go
towards advancing and supporting outstanding research in the country.
Annexure 1:
Planned area statement

Sl Proposed Total Area
Space type No.
No. area in Sqm
1 President office complex 1 600 600
32
2 Directorates 10 800 8000
3 Offices 10 400 4000
4 Auditorium - 200 capacity 1 300 300
5 Library 1 250 250
IT office & computer
6 1 200 200
facilities
Meeting rooms, lecture
7 1 1000 1000
rooms, and board room
8 Health & wellness Centre 1 500 500
9 Dining & faculty Lounge 1 500 500
Utility services, substation,
10 1 1000 1000
and security
Total carpet area :- 16350
Additional areas for
reception, corridors, lobby
11 spaces, restrooms, 40% 6540
staircases, lifts, service
spaces @ 40%
Total area :- 22890
33
Annexure 2:
Costs of construction of NRF infrastructure
A. Abstract of Block Estimate - Plinth Area Rates 2019 (CPWD)

Sl Rate/ Amount in Rs.
Description of Items
No. sqm Cr
1 Civil works 32737.21
2 Services 7267.50
3 Lifts 225.00
4 RCC Water Tank 816.67
5 Development Work 2433.96
6 Misc. works 927.08
7 SPECIALISED E & M WORKS. 5638.71
Total 50046.12 114.56
Improved specifications and
8 10% 5004.61 11.46
architectural features
Total (Basic cost of construction) 55050.73 126.02
9 Contingencies @ 3% 3% 3.78
10 Escalation for 3 Yrs @ 7.5%/annum 22.5% 29.21
11 Labour cess @ 1% 1% 1.59

12 GST @ 12% 12% 19.08
Total (Net cost of construction):- 179.68
B. Allied expenditures (Bulk Services)

Sl Amount in Rs.
Details
No. Cr
Power supply.- Rs 75.00 lakhs for about 2 kms
1 0.75
distance.
Water supply.- Rs.125.00 lakhs for about 2 kms
2 1.25
distance.
34
Vehicle for pre-project activities till commission.-
3 0.30
Rs. 30.00 lakhs: for 5 years.
Expenditure for pre-project activities such as geo-
4 technical investigation, borewell construction for 0.15
water, site office, etc.,- Rs 15.00 lakhs
Quality check/lab charges during construction
5 0.05
stages.- Rs.5.00 lakhs
Hiring of staff for construction supervision & office
6 2.20
support.- Rs 220.00 lakhs
Site & support office infrastructure till commission
7 0.25
of the campus.- Rs 25.00 lakhs
Software related to planning & estimate, billing,
8 execution, project monitoring etc., for effective 0.15
project management.- Rs 15.00 lakhs
Cost of furnishing @ 20% of basic cost of
9 22.91
construction.
Deposits to statutory departments.- Rs 60.00
10 0.60
lakhs.
Evaluation of consultants & contracting agencies.-
11 Rs 30.00 lakhs. (Depends on number participating 0.30
firms.)
Material inspections & pre-dispatch inspections.-
12 0.15
Rs 15.00 lakhs.
Travel & air fare of top management.- Rs 15.00
13 0.15
lakhs.
Consultancy services (Architectural, Structural,
14 MEP, Landscape, AV system, Networking etc.) - 5% 6.30
of basic cost of construction.
Construction & project management - 8% of basic
15 10.08
construction cost (if outsourced to external firm).
TOTAL 45.59
16 Escalation for 3 Yrs @ 7.5%/annum 10.26
17 GST @ 12% 6.70
TOTAL 62.55
TOTAL of A + B 242.23
35
Annexure 3:
Salaries
A. Salaries for posts in Office of the President
Office/Post/Designations Number Pay Scale Level in Gross Pay Total /

for each Directorate of Posts 7CPC at Stage-S Annum
1. President, NRF 1 Apex 80,000 2,25,000/-
Executive Secretary 1 PB 4- GP 8900 13A 1,47,600/
Section Officer 1 PB 3- GP 5400 10 63,100/-
Office Assistant I 2 PB 2- GP 4600 7 50,500/-
Office Assistant III 2 PB 1- GP 2400 4 28,700/-
MTS 2 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100
SCD 1 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100
2. Vice-President, NRF 1 (HAG+) L-15 2,05,100/-
Asst. Executive Secretary 1 PB 3 - GP 6600 11 76,200/-
Section Officer 1 PB 3 - GP 5400 10 63,100/-
Office Assistant I 1 PB 2 - GP 4600 7 50,500/-
MTS 1 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100
SCD 1 PB 1-GP 1900 2 21,100
3. CEO, NRF 1 (HAG+) L-15 2,05,100/-
Asst. Executive Secretary 1 PB 3 - GP 6600 11 76,200/-
Section Officer 1 PB 3 - GP 5400 10 63,100/-
MTS 1 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100
SCD 1 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100
Total 24 1.9 Cr
B. Salaries for posts in each Directorate
36
for each Directorate of Posts 7CPC at Stage-S Annum
Chair 1 PB 4 - GP 10000 14 1,62,300/-
Vice Chair 1 PB 4- GP 8900 13A 1,47,600/-
37
Lead Programme Officers 4 PB 3 - GP 7600 12 88,700/-
Programme Officers 12 PB 3 - GP 6600 11 76,200/-
Tech. Assistant D 8 PB 2 - GP 4200 6 39,900/-
MTS 6 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100/-
Total 38 2.79 cr
Total for 10 Directorates 380 27.9 cr
C. Salaries for posts in each Office

for each Office of Posts 7CPC at Stage-S Annum
Chair 1 PB 4 - GP 10000 14 1,62,300/-
Vice Chair 1 PB 4- GP 8900 13A 1,47,600/-
Programme Managers 4 PB 3 - GP 6600 11 76,200/-
Tech. Assistant D 4 PB 2 - GP 4200 6 39,900/-
MTS 3 PB 1- GP 1900 2 21,100/-
Total 16 1.19 cr
Total for 8 Offices 128 9.5 cr
Annexure 4:
NRF Professorships
38
Average Total cost
Seed Total cost for Number
Year Stipend for per
Grant 2 postdoctoral of
NRF Professor Professor- Total
+ 10% + 2 doctoral Professor
(over 5 years) ship
overhead fellows* -ships
2020-21 90,00,000 5.5 cr 2,04,08,960 8,44,08,960 100 844.09 cr
2021-22 90,00,000 5.5 cr 2,04,08,960 8,44,08,960 100 844.09 cr
2022-23 90,00,000 5.5 cr 2,04,08,960 8,44,08,960 100 844.09 cr
2023-24 90,00,000 5.5 cr 2,04,08,960 8,44,08,960 100 844.09 cr
2024-25 90,00,000 5.5 cr 2,04,08,960 8,44,08,960 100 844.09 cr

Total 500 4220.45 cr
Annexure 5:
Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships
A. Doctoral Fellowship Commitments

39
Doctoral Annual
Year Fellowship Contingency Total cost Number
HRA @
Stipend Grant per fellow of Total
24%
(over 5 years) (x 5 years) fellows
+10% ovhd
2020-21 18,60,000 4,46,400 16,50,000 39,56,400 500 197.82 cr
2021-22 18,60,000 4,46,400 16,50,000 39,56,400 1000 395.64 cr
2022-23 18,60,000 4,46,400 16,50,000 39,56,400 1000 395.64 cr
2023-24 18,60,000 4,46,400 16,50,000 39,56,400 1000 395.64 cr
2024-25 18,60,000 4,46,400 16,50,000 39,56,400 1000 395.64 cr

Total 4500 1780.38 cr
B. Postdoctoral Fellowship Commitments
Doctoral Annual
Year Fellowship Contingency Total cost Number Total
HRA @ Grant
Stipend per fellow 0f
24%
(over 3 years) (x 5 years) fellows
+ 10% ovhd
2020-21 16,92,000 4,06,080 16,50,000 37,48,100 500 187.40 cr
2021-22 16,92,000 4,06,080 16,50,000 37,48,100 1000 374.81 cr
2022-23 16,92,000 4,06,080 16,50,000 37,48,100 1000 374.81 cr
2023-24 16,92,000 4,06,080 16,50,000 37,48,100 1000 374.81 cr
2024-25 16,92,000 4,06,080 16,50,000 37,48,100 1000 374.81 cr
Total 4500 1686.64 cr
Annexure 6:
Funding of Grants
40
Average grant Number
Year
of Annual
per project
projects Total
annually
2020-21 1.67 cr 3200 5344 cr
2021-22 1.67 cr 3200 5344 cr
2022-23 1.67 cr 3200 5344 cr
2023-24 1.67 cr 3200 5344 cr
2024-25 1.67 cr 3200 5344 cr

Total 16000 26720 cr
Annexure 7:
Total costs over 5 years (in Rs. Cr.)
41
Year Infra- Grants Salaries NRF Doctoral COEs and Missions Total
Struc- Profess- and Post- Research and
ture orships doctoral Infra- Mega-
Fellow- structure projects
ships
2020-21 60.56 5344 19.65 844.1 385.2 1200 2000 9853.5
2021-22 84.76 5344 19.65 844.1 770.4 1200 2000 10262.9
2022-23 84.76 5344 39.3 844.1 770.4 1200 2000 10282.6
2023-24 84.16 5344 39.3 844.1 770.4 1200 2000 10282.0
2024-25 23.6 5344 39.3 844.1 770.4 1200 2000 10221.4
Total 337.8 26720 157.2 4220.5 3467 6000 10000 50902.5
NB:
1. No projects are being approved beyond the first 5 years. Funds will be used an d w i l l t a
p e r o f f beyond 5 years since the scheme for funding provides for instalments for 3 to 5
years from the year of award.
2. Estimates for salaries may be expected to increase at 10% a year from the first- year
projections.
3. Costs do not include power and water, travel, advertising and publicity, international
collaborations and meetings-related expenses, etc.
Annexure 8:
Justifications for NRF Costs

42
(with Comparisons to Costs of Other Successful Global
Research Funding Agencies)
U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF): The U.S. NSF is considered by scientifc
organisations worldwide as the gold standard for funding high-quality research,
with rigorous peer review panels, procedures for ensuring the absence of
conflicts of interest, and an outstanding system of grants management,
budgeting, and accounting for efficient use of funds.
The NRF is thus modeled in large part on the U.S. NSF and similar such
research organisations in other parts of the world - such as the European
German Research Foundation (DFG), The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI),
Japan Science and Technology Agency, the Swiss National Science Foundation,
the Norwegian Research Council, the National Research Foundation (South
Korea), and the Singapore National Science Foundation - while taking into
account the Indian context.
Some relevant details on the U.S. National Science Foundation:
The NSF is one of 28 significant research funding agencies in the U.S.; it is the
U.S. funding agency that is the most comprehensive - across disciplines and
with respect to coordination with higher education institutions, other funding
agencies, government bodies, and industry. The budget of the U.S. NSF is about
$7.8 billion per year, or about ₹5.5 kharab annually. The NSF funds about
11,000 proposals a year. The average grant is about $178,000 per year, with a
typical duration of 3 years (although some proposals are longer), yielding an
average of about ₹3.8 cr total per grant. (Funding for megaprojects, etc., are not
considered in this average.)
The NSF is in a prominent location in the greater Washington, D.C. area

(Alexandria, VA), across the street from a metro station for easy access, and has
about 70K Sqm of built space over 19 stories, on 2.03 acres.
The NSF has 1,700 employees of which 509 are Program Officers. Thus each
program officer on average handles about 22 new funded proposals a year, and
about 70 total proposals at any one time. Most NSF program officers interviewed
said that they found this number a bit too many, and would prefer fewer
proposals to oversee so that they could more closely monitor, evaluate, and
provide support to each one while keeping up their own research work.
The other concern expressed within the NSF was the overemphasis on science
and engineering, thereby precluding the funding of important interdisciplinary
and multidisciplinary research across the arts, humanities, sciences,
engineering, and social sciences. Environmental science did not have an
43
obvious place in the NSF, also considered a deficiency in its setup given the
unfortunate current environmental direction of the planet.
Recommendations for the NRF:
At the current time, despite India’s population being triple that of the United
States, the research capacity in India is about one-tenth of that of the U.S. One
of the aims for research in India will be to move from 1/10 capacity to about
1/4th to 1/3rd capacity over the next 5 years. In particular, a guiding principle
for the NRF will be to emulate the NSF - in its aspects relating to efficient
budgeting, eliminating conflicts of interest, etc. – but at the same time improve
the NSF (e.g., by including subjects that the NSF did not include, providing
greater mentoring and handholding to seed and grow research across the
country, etc.). The guiding aim will be for the NRF to function at between ¼ and
1/3 of the level of the NSF in terms of its infrastructure, the number of proposals
funded, the number of programme officers, the total number of employees, etc.
Due to lesser labour costs in India, the total administrative and research budget
of the NRF to achieve the above should come in under 1/5 of the total budget of
the NSF during its first five years.
Directorates:
The overarching goal of the NRF is to increase research capacity across all fields
across institutions in India, and to ensure that this research is
multidisciplinary, curiosity-driven, has positive societal impact, and includes
environmental science, Indian knowledge, as well as innovation &
entrepreneurship. The NRF will thus have 10 Directorates across disciplines –
Natural Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Engineering, Arts & Humanities,
Social Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indian Languages and
Knowledge Systems, Health, Agriculture, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Programme Officers:
Over the first five years, each Directorate will have on average 4 subject
Divisions, and 4 Programme Officers in each subject Division, for a total of 16
Programme Officers per Directorate, and thus a total of 160 Programme Officers
across the NRF. Note that this number (160) is indeed between ¼ and 1/3 of
the number (509) of such Officers at the NSF.
Each Directorate will have about 16 additional support staff as well.

Administrative Offices will have about 20 staff each on average. The total
number of employees at the NRF will thus be around 520, which again is
between ¼ and 1/3 of the total number (1700) of employees at the NSF.
44
Number of Funded Proposals:
Each Programme Officer will aim to handle 20 or so newly funded proposals a

year – handholding, monitoring, and supporting them – or about 60 funded
proposals at any one time. The number of funded proposals per Programme
Officer is thus approximately at NSF levels, but just slightly lower given the
novelty of the job in India and the nascent stage of research at most Indian
universities and colleges, meaning that each proposal will likely require
considerably more time from each Programme Officer compared to those nations
where research infrastructure is significantly higher at the current time.
The expectation is thus to fund about 3200 three-year proposals a year across
disciplines. This number (3200) too is between ¼ and 1/3 of the number that
NSF currently funds (11000).
Infrastructure:
To handle this number of employees, NRF should also initially aim to be about
1/3 the size of NSF headquarters. The proposed 22785 Sqm (Annexure 1) is
indeed about 1/3 of the size of NSF’s 70K Sqm.
Specific initiatives:
The types of proposals suggested are very similar in scope and design to those
funded by the NSF. However, the initiative of NRF Professorships to seed
research at State Universities is tailored to the Indian context.
Individual grants to outstanding proposals:
At the current time, the most prestigious science and engineering grants of the
government (from SERB, etc.) are three-year grants of about ₹2 cr – 5cr each.
Grants for the social sciences tend to be smaller (due to the significantly lower
costs of research equipment needed) while for the humanities and arts, grants
tend to be much smaller still (for similar reasons). However, the costs of research
postdocs and Ph.D. students are the same regardless of field. It is thus expected
that the most prestigious grants in any subject (especially those that include
also a research postdoc and a Ph.D. student, for example) would still require
₹1cr over three years.
Since the NRF will aim to fund the most impactful research, and encourage
more students and postdocs working in research, it is expected that most
funding granted will range between ₹1cr and ₹2cr. In fact, since most NRF grants
will be in the sciences, health, engineering, and technology, it is estimated that
the average grant size will be about ₹1.67cr, i.e., somewhat closer to ₹2cr than to
₹1cr.
45
Of course, it will depend on the proposals received as to what the average will
really turn out to be. There may well be many smaller high-quality proposals –
perhaps not requiring students and postdocs - that will be worth funding. There
may be a few revolutionary proposals requiring significantly more funding. The
overall goal will be to fund good people with good ideas.
The total NRF cost of funding outstanding research proposals across disciplines
at institutions across the country is thus expected to be 3200 x ₹1.67cr, i.e.,
₹5344cr, per year, or ₹26720cr over five years (Annexure 6).
The costs required will be constantly reviewed by Programme Officers and the
Office of Grants Management, Budgeting, and Accounting, and the Office of the
Inspector General, to ensure efficient and honest usage of funds.
Research Mentors / NRF Professorships:
To grow research capacity in the country, as mentioned above Research Mentors

will be recruited to State Universities and other universities where research is
currently nascent. This will be a prestigious programme, with 100 high-profile
researchers a year being given such NRF Professorships during the first five
years). These Professorships (the exact costs will depend on the subject) will
come with one time research grants of up to ₹5cr for setting up of research lab
infrastructure, an Honorarium of approximately ₹1 lakh PM for Retired Faculty
(to bridge the gap between pension and full salary) or Full Salary at
Scientist H level for Currently Serving Faculty (approximately ₹2 lakh PM),
2 three-year Postdoctoral fellows (₹47000 PM + HRA 24% + Research
Contingency Grant of ₹5 lakhs per annum), 2 five-year Junior Research Fellows
/ Ph.D. Students (₹31000PM + HRA 24% + Research Contingency Grant of ₹3
lakhs per annum), Contingency Grant of ₹10 lakhs per annum, and overheads
of 10% on all grants. Awards are initially for a 5-year term, renewable for further
terms upon success of the NRF Professorship and upon demonstrated research
growth at the institution. Grant amounts here are Modelled on t h e Swarna
Jayanti Fellowship and NRDMS Chair Professorship Scheme of DST.
The total expected cost for the NRF Professorships / Mentoring Programme over
5 years is thus as in Annexure 4.
NRF Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships:
The NSF awards a total of 2,000 graduate and 2,000 postdoctoral fellowships
every year. It is proposed that the NRF fund about ¼ of these numbers in its
initial year and then scale up to funding about ½ of these numbers rapidly
(across all fields), and thereby to scale up the research culture of the country
and of the next generation as soon as possible. The total expected cost for the
46
NRF Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme (across all disciplines) is
thus expected to be as in Annexure 5.
National Mission Projects and Megaprojects:

Participation in National Mission Projects and megaprojects can boost national
and international collaborations in important areas across fields. Examples that
India has participated in include LIGO (which resulted in Indian institutions’
citation in the Nobel Prize for discovery of gravitational waves) and SKA, which
had Indian contributions of ₹3000cr and ₹500cr, respectively, and dramatically
boosted Indian science. Besides physics, national and international missions in
other subjects would also similarly boost research (e.g., missions to clean rivers,
reduce pollution, build a jet engine, build a network of supercomputers,
preserve Indian languages and Indian manuscripts, etc). The average cost per
mission may be estimated at ₹1000cr in view of previous missions; the total cost
for 10 missions may be estimated at ₹10000cr.
Centres of Excellence:
To develop expertise in certain research areas that are so far underdeveloped in
India, it is envisioned to develop Centres of Excellence in given such areas
(through competitive calls for proposals) at, say, 20 institutions around the
country over 5 years. Such areas may include artificial intelligence, clean
energy, water conservation, preservation of ancient Indian manuscripts,
preservation of Indian languages, climate/monsoon studies, etc. The aim would
be to develop a cutting-edge Centre that conducts the highest-quality global-
class research in the subject. A modest estimate of ₹300 cr to set up each Centre,
on average, gives an estimate of ₹6000 cr total to develop such Centres.
Total budget:
The total budget for the NRF is thus estimated to be about ₹5 kharab over 5
years, less than 1/5 of the corresponding figure of ₹27.85 kharab for the NSF.
Some relevant details on the ERC:
It is also worth comparing the proposed NRF with the European Research
Council. Note that the ERC is only a part of the EU Framework for Research
and Innovation - the ERC represents 17% of the EU Horizon 2020 Research and
Innovation budget.
The very basic principle of the ERC is to follow strictly a bottom-up approach
where there is no hard separation of disciplines and/or topics used to determine
priorities or shares. Domains of knowledge are divided roughly into 27
disciplines (compared with 10 Directorates and about 40 Divisions for the
proposed NRF).
47
The budget for the ERC is about ₹1.73 kharab per year, or about ₹8.7 kharab
over 5 years. It funds about 1200 grants annually, each ranging from ₹5cr to
over ₹10 cr in size. The ERC office space consists of the top six floors of the
Berlaymont building in Brussels, and occupies about 80,000 Sqm (compared to
the requested 22,890 Sqm requested for NRF office space). The ERC has
approximately 800 employees (compared to the 532 requested for the NRF).
Summary:
The above justifications for NRF funding, infrastracture, and human resources
use estimates based on global norms that have been adjusted to the Indian
context. As the above comparisons make clear, the request for NRF funding and
infrastructure is minimal - far smaller than the NSF (and the ERC) - given what
the NRF aims to deliver.
48

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National Research Foundation

Detailed Project Report

The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and

The Ministry of Human Resource Development

2. Status of R&I Investment 4

3. India’s Research Output 5

7. Scope and Structure of NRF 9

8. Funding Research Proposals Through Rigorous Peer 14

10. Large Interdisciplinary Projects, Missions, and 20

14. Financial Implication 26

1.1 Origins. The idea to set up a National Research Foundation (NRF) in

1.2 The Importance of Research for Higher Education. As noted in the

1.3 The Importance of Research for Addressing Key Societal Challenges.

1.5 The Importance of Research for Sustainable Development. If India is

1.6 Summary. In summary, there is no single factor more important to the

2. Current Status of R&I Investment:

2.1 R&I Investment as a Percentage of GDP. India’s R&I investment as a

2.2 Number of Researchers Supported by Current R&I Investment. The

3. India’s Research Output:

3.2 Number of Publications. In terms of publications, India has been doing

4. Other Impediments to Research:

4.1 Lack of Integrated Planning and Coordination. While each of our

4.3 Lack of Emphasis on Creativity and Critical Thinking in Educational

5. Concept of a National Research Foundation:

“We must establish an expanded research ecosystem… Friends, our

5.3 Announcement by the Honourable President of India. The need for

“Research is being encouraged in higher educational institutions.

5.4 Announcement by the Honourable Finance Minister. On July 5, 2019,

“We propose to establish a National Research Foundation (NRF) to

5.5 Meeting at NITI Aayog. A meeting with representatives from Ministries,

5.6 Proposal to set up a National Research Foundation. It is in the above

(a) Fund competitive peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types,

(b) Seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions,

(c) Fund research infrastructure (e.g., computing facilities) at

(e) Act as a liason and coordinator amongst researchers, relevant

(f) Support the development of the next generation of researchers and

(g) Recommend and support various activities and initiatives for

(i) Recognise outstanding research and progress achieved via NRF

7. Scope and Structure of the NRF:

7.1 Structure of the National Research Foundation (NRF). The National

7.3 President, Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer. A President of

7.6 Administrative Structure. Working in parallel and in collaboration with

7.8 Funding Peer-Reviewed Research. The NRF will competitively fund

7.9 Seeding and Mentoring Research. In addition to directly funding

7.10 Establishing Linkages Across Academia, Government, and Industry.

7.12 Funding of Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, and Symposia.

7.15 Financial and Administrative Autonomy. The NRF will be fully

7.18 Real-time information and data collection. The NRF’s Office of

8. Funding Research Proposals through Rigorous Peer Review:

8.2 Types of Proposals. Proposals of various types will be allowed, including

8.3 Content of Proposals to Include Societal Impact. In addition to

8.4 Duration of Funded Projects. Research proposals would generally be for

8.5 Assessing and funding quality research proposals through a system

8.6 Awards to be well-distributed across different types of institutions

8.7 Approach to funds disbursal. Funds for successful proposals will be

8.8 Oversight and coordination by Programme Officers. Funded projects

8.10 Intellectual Property to belong to researchers. In accordance with

9. Building Research Capacity in Universities and Colleges: