Education & Research

Viksit Bharat 2047's vision of achieving developed, high-income country status for India by the centenary of India's independence is in essence dependent on the strategic inputs of the country's premier research and education institutions. Reaching the historic economic goal of a $30–$40 trillion economy and increasing per capita income to $15,000–$18,000 requires sustained progress, technological self-reliance, and good governance.
India's Institutes of National Importance (INIs), namely the IITs, IISc, IIMs, and IISERs, are assigned a strategic mandate as the fulcrum agents for this change, operating in a facilitative policy environment to arrest talent flight and bridge the national research and development (R&D) gap.
I. Mandate and Strategic Challenge Definition
The ambitious economic goal of Viksit Bharat requires an average sustained economic growth rate of approximately 7.8% over the next two decades.This goal is underpinned by  central themes, including Innovation, Science, and Technology, and Good Governance.The INIs are the foundational partners in this knowledge-based economy, generating both cutting-edge research and the advanced human capital required.
The R&D Gap and Talent Flight Challenge
The most significant structural challenge facing India is the relatively weak national R&D investment, which is around 0.7% of GDP, much lower than the likes of South Korea (4.2%), the US (2.8%), and China (2.2%). This difference represents the biggest risk to becoming technology self-reliant. In addition, even though INIs churn out top-of-the-world talent, India has traditionally been unable to retain it—a so-called brain drain.The strategic approach is for INIs not only to churn out talent, but to proactively seed technological and management ecosystems (e.g., deep-tech startups) to create enough domestic high-value jobs, thus reversing the brain drain.

II. Technological Acceleration: The Role of IITs and IISc
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are the main drivers for India's journey to become a 'Product Nation' by leading the deep-tech ecosystem.
• Deep-Tech Innovation: Organizations such as IIT Madras host India's largest deep-tech startup ecosystems, incubating more than 475 startups with a combined valuation of over Rs. 50,000 Crore (US$ 6 Billion). By offering world-class labs and seed capital (up to ₹1 Crore), they take on the early-stage risk largely shunned by private venture capital, achieving an 80% reported success rate. These startups have generated over 11,000 jobs and have filed over 700 patents.
• Critical Mineral Security: For securing supply chains, four IITs (Bombay, Hyderabad, ISM Dhanbad, and Roorkee) were made Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), offering critical technical policy input and R&D.
• Green Energy: IISc built a two-stage biomass-to-hydrogen reactor system that produces 99% pure green hydrogen at an economical cost using agricultural waste. This technology sequesters over one kilogram of carbon dioxide per kilogram of hydrogen produced, aligning with the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap and the 'Sustainable Economy' pillar directly.
• Digital Leadership: The IITs and IISc are hosting CoEs for AI to create a future-proof workforce, providing catalytic funding to more than 1,000 AI startups and upskilling engineers to establish India as a world leader in AI and Quantum computing.
III. Steering Governance and Economic Strategy: The IIMs' Influence
Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) support the 'Thriving and Sustainable Economy' and 'Good Governance' pillars through policy, management excellence, and ethical leadership.
• Policy Formulation: IIMs are closely engaged with the Viksit Bharat Vision effort, lending academic scholarship and managerial acumen to strategic planning. The milestone publication, "Viksit Bharat@2047: Governance Transformed," released jointly with DARPG, is a strategic blueprint for administrative transformation.
• Ethical and Sustainable Leadership: IIM programs stress Environmental, Ethical, Social, and Governance (EESG) paradigms to ensure future leaders are capable of running a high-income economy with transparency and sustainability.This emphasis is essential to attract sustainable investing and enhance India's global economic competitiveness.
• Inclusive Growth Studies: IIM studies examine dynamics like access to finance and markets, creating key policy insights that favor the 'Empowered Indians' pillar by removing social inequalities and making economic growth inclusive for target population groups: Youth, Poor, Women, and Farmers.
IV. Enhancing the Scientific Base: The Role of IISERs
The Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) ensure the country's long-term scientific horizon by focusing on basic research and revolutionizing science teaching.
• Excellence in Basic Science: IISERs emphasize pure, basic science in order to ensure India's scientific resilience and capacity to produce completely new scientific paradigms—those foundational advances essential for future breakthroughs in AI, quantum tech, and advanced materials, thus ensuring the long-term pipeline for innovation after 2047.
• Capacity Building: They deal with issues at the roots of education through the Centre of Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CoESME). It offers ongoing teacher development, and they touch base with more than 12,000 school and college teachers to enhance scientific literacy and concept clarity at the grassroots, which is critical for the quality of the talent pipeline.
V. The Enabling Ecosystem: Research Governance and Scaling
To scale the national research effort beyond the core INIs, two major policy mechanisms have been established:
• Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF): Created by an Act of 2023, the ANRF plans to reshape the process of research funding in a bid to allocate ₹50,000 crore of funds between 2023 and 2028. Most important, it is attempting to raise the lion's share of this capital (₹36,000 crore) in the private sector and from philanthropic bodies, recognizing that achieving global R&D standards is about tapping non-governmental funds.
• The PAIR program employs a Hub & Spoke model to spread the expertise of high-quality INIs to nascent Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country.
• Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA): This program aims to improve the quality, access, and governance of State institutions. It ensures equity and redresses regional imbalances by making future grants conditional on implementing academic, administrative, and governance reforms so that quality education gets democratized in the entire country.
India's best INIs are conscious strategic assets whose functions have been broadened to squarely align with the objectives of Viksit Bharat 2047. IITs/IISc are the tech accelerators, IIMs offer the administrative and ethical pillar (sustainable management), and IISERs provide the long-term science pipeline.
The Road ahead
• Private Sector R&D Contribution Mandate: Apply weighted tax deductions or a minimum R&D spending mandates (like CSR) to major companies in 'sunrise' industries to guarantee the private sector commits the necessary financial investment to the ANRF.
• Strengthening INI Autonomy for Technology Transfer: Provide greater operational and financial independence to Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in IITs/IISc for streamlining IP licensing and facilitating faster transition of indigenous deep-tech from the lab to market.
• Strategic Talent Retention Ecosystem: Intentionally connect significant national R&D funding sources (such as ANRF grants) with a required domestic operational anchoring for a specified period, using public investment to generate the required 'world-class opportunities' to retain elite talent and maximize utilization of INIs' human capital to attain high-income status.