At a time when research and development is key to India’s progress, consolidated expenditure on R&D for 11 of the larger States is just at around 0.1 per cent of GSDP in recent years.

Businessline’s analysis of RBI data shows that the total R&D expenditure of 11 of the larger States was ₹6,920.7 crore in FY21. This registered a sharp jump in FY24, growing to ₹15,845 crore. By FY25(BE), it increased to ₹17,312.9 crore, marking a slow growth of 9.3 per cent. The RBI report has R&D expenditures of only 14 states, of which the 11 largest states have been taken for analysis.

R&D allocations

Of these States, Rajasthan, Kerala, and Odisha have allocated the highest for R&D in FY25 with ₹7,488.2 crore (0.42 per cent of GSDP), ₹3,678.5 crore (0.28 per cent), and ₹2,294.9 crore (0.12 per cent), respectively. In contrast, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal reported the lowest R&D allocations at ₹7 crore, ₹8 crore, and ₹198.1 crore, respectively, all less than 0.01 per cent of GSDP.

Large States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Punjab have budgeted just around 0.01 per cent, 0.07 per cent and 0.11 per cent of GDP for R&D in FY25. Among large states, data for Maharashtra, Gujarat, and UP were not available with RBI.

Punjab (48.7 per cent), Odisha (20.8 per cent), and West Bengal (17.6 per cent) recorded the highest growth in budgeted R&D for FY25. Haryana (-56.6 per cent), Bihar (-17.6 per cent), and Karnataka (-2.3 per cent) have seen a decline in R&D expenditure during the same period.

In FY25, most States have prioritised R&D spending in the health and education sectors. Rajasthan allocated ₹5,773.9 crore to Medical, Health, Family Welfare, and Sanitation. Kerala’s highest R&D expenditure was in education, at ₹1,706.4 crore.

“The R&D expenditures of States are primarily dominated by medical, health, family welfare, sanitation and agricultural research. Over time, the proportions of health and education-related R&D spending have increased, while that of agricultural research has declined,” the RBI stated in its report.

Professor Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani says, “Low spending on R&D is not just a State-level issue but a national concern; India ranks poorly in research expenditure compared to the global average.” He adds that NITI Aayog must start ranking states on their investment in universities, push for university education, their autonomy and other research parameters.