Parliament Question: Artificial Intelligence, Research and Innovation

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4073 ANSWERED ON 12/08/2026 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION †4073. SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether the various schemes are being implemented in India to promote research and innovation in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technology, Semiconductors, Biotechnology and other Emerging Technologies;

(b) if so, the details thereof, State and scheme-wise;

(c) whether challenges such as relatively low expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Production

(GDP), vacant positions of scientists, lack of research infrastructure and brain drain are affecting the pace of research;

(d) if so, the concrete steps taken by the Government to address the said problems;

(e) whether the Government proposes to set a target to increase the expenditure on Research and Development in a phased manner to at least 2 per cent of the GDP; and

(f) if so, the details of the action plan thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) to (b): The Government of India has been promoting research and innovation in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum technology, semiconductors, biotechnology and other emerging technologies through various schemes and mission mode programmes. The details of some of the major schemes/programme is as below:

Page 1 of 6Budget S. No. Scheme/Programme Focus Area Outlay Deep technologies including Research, quantum computing, robotics i. Development and and space; Artificial Rs. 1.0 lakh Innovation Intelligence; Biotechnology; crore

(RDI)Fund Digital economy; Energy security and transition etc.

Quantum Computing, Quantum ii. National Quantum Communication, Quantum Rs. 6,003.65 Mission (NQM) Sensing & Metrology, Quantum crore Materials & Devices National Mission Artificial Intelligence, Quantum on iii. Technologies, Robotics, Rs. 3,660 Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity and other crore Cyber-Physical emerging technologies Systems (NM-ICPS) Biotechnology Research Biotechnology, iv. Innovation and Rs. 9,197 Biomanufacturing and Entrepreneurship crore Biofoundry etc.

Development (Bio- RIDE) v. Rs. 10,371.92 India AI Mission Artificial Intelligence crore Semiconductor India vi. fabrication, packaging, design Rs. 76,000 Semiconductor and semiconductor crore Mission ecosystem Under NM-ICPS, 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH) and under NQM 4 Technology Hubs (T-Hub) have been established across the country. Details are at Annexure.

(c) to (d): As per the latest “Research and Development Statistics 2025-26” report, brought out by Department of Science and Technology

(DST), the Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) as a percentage of GDP has increased from 0.64% in 2020-21 to 0.84% in 2023-

24. In absolute terms, it has been consistently increasing over the years Page 2 of 6and more than tripled from Rs. 79,355.89 crore in 2013-14 to Rs. 2,44,767.81 crore in 2023-24. Further, the government is taking various steps to increase R&D expenditure, strenghten research infrastructure and retain scientific talent in the country. These include: successive increase in allocations for scientific departments; financial assistance to research institutions to carry out basic and applied research to strengthen research capacity, human resource development; and creation of state-of-the-art research infrastructure in the country. DST through schemes like Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST), Promotion of University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE), Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIF) and Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) through its Boost to University Interdisciplinary Life Science Departments for Education and Research (DBT-BUILDER) programme, supports research infrastructure in universities and institutions. The Government through various fellowships like National Post-Doctoral Fellowship (NPDF), Ramanujan Fellowship;

INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship, Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship, Biomedical Research Career Programme and MK Bhan-Young Researcher Fellowship is supporting young researchers and also attracting brilliant Indian researchers from abroad to return to India and conduct high quality research. Also, the VAIBHAV fellowship of DST provides a platform for overseas scientists including Non-Resident Indians to undertake collaborative research in Indian institutions and universities.

(e) to (f): The Government continues to promote greater investment in research and development through enhanced public funding, increased private sector participation, philanthropic contributions and stronger industry-academia collaboration. The key initiatives towards this include the establishment of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation

(ANRF), the creation of the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund to catalyse private investment in research and innovation and supporting policy measures.

Page 3 of 6Annexure Details of Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) under National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) S.No. Name of the TIH Name of the Vertical State I-HUB for Robotics and Autonomous Systems 1 Robotics & AI Systems Karnataka Innovation Foundation, IISc Bengaluru IHUB NTIHAC Foundation, Uttar 2 Cybersecurity IIT Kanpur Pradesh IITI Drishti CPS Madhya 3 Digital Healthcare Foundation , IIT Indore Pradesh Technology Innovation in Mining (Exploration to 4 Exploration & Mining Beneficiation of Jharkhand Foundation, IIT Dhanbad Minerals) IIT Kharagpur AI4ICPS I- Artificial Intelligence 5 Hub Foundation, IIT West Bengal and Machine Learning Kharagpur Technologies for Internet of Things & TIH Foundation For IOT Internet of Everything 6 Maharashtra And IOE , IIT Bombay BharatGen: A Suite of Generative AI Tech for India IIIT-H Data I-Hub Data Banks & Data 7 Foundation, IIIT Telangana Services, Data Analysis Hyderabad Computer Vision, IHUB Drishti Foundation , 8 Augmented and virtual Rajasthan IIT Jodhpur reality Divyasampark IHUB Roorkee for Devices Device Technology and 9 Uttarakhand Materials and Technology Materials Foundation , IIT Roorkee IIT Patna Vishlesan I-hub Speech, Video & Text 10 Bihar Foundation, IIT Patna Analytics Page 4 of 6S.No. Name of the TIH Name of the Vertical State IIT Madras Pravartak Sensors, Networking, 11 Technologies Foundation, Tamil Nadu Actuator & controls IIT Madras NMICPS Technology Autonomous Innovation Hub on Navigation and Data 12 Autonomous Navigation Telangana Acquisition systems Foundation (TiHAN), IIT (UAV, RoVetc) Hyderabad Data Analytics & I-DAPT-HUB Foundation, Uttar 13 Predictive IIT (BHU) Varanasi Pradesh Technologies IIT Guwahati Technology Innovation and Technologies for Under 14 Assam Development Foundation, water exploration IIT Guwahati IIT Mandi IHub and HCI Human Computer Himachal 15 Foundation , IIT Mandi Interaction Pradesh I-Hub Foundation for 16 Cobotics Delhi Cobotics (IHFC), IIT Delhi IIT Palakkad Technology Intelligent 17 Ihub Foundation, IIT Kerala Collaborative Systems Palakkad IIT Ropar Technology and Technologies for 18 Innovation Foundation, IIT Punjab Agriculture & Water Ropar Advanced IIITB Comet Foundation, 19 Communication Karnataka IIIT Bengaluru System BITS BioCYTiH 20 Bio-CPS Rajasthan Foundation , BITS Pilani IDEAS- Institute of Data Data Science, Big Data Engineering, Analytics 21 Analytics and Data West Bengal and Science Foundation, curation etc ISI Kolkata IHUB Anubhuti-IIITD Cognitive Computing & 22 Delhi Foundation , IIIT Delhi Social Censing Page 5 of 6S.No. Name of the TIH Name of the Vertical State I-Hub Quantum 23 Technology Foundation, Quantum Technologies Maharashtra IISER Pune IIT Tirupati Navavishkar I- Positioning and Andhra 24 Hub Foundation, IIT Precision Technologies Pradesh Tirupati IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technologies for 25 Technology Foundation, financial sector Chhattisgarh IIT Bhilai (Fintech) Details of Technology Hub (T-Hub) under National Quantum Mission (NQM) S.No. Name of the T-Hub Name of the Vertical State 1 T-Hub at IISc. Bengaluru Quantum Computing Karnataka 2 T-Hub at IIT Madras Quantum Communication Tamil Nadu Quantum Sensing & 3 T-Hub at IIT Bombay Maharashtra Metrology Quantum Materials & 4 T-Hub at IIT Delhi Delhi Devices ***** Page 6 of 6