New Delhi: Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Minister Earth Sciences; MoS, Atomic Energy and Space has said that India ranks 6th globally in R&D investment in terms of US$ Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). 

He added that as per the latest available statistics, India’s spending on Research and Development (R&D) is consistently increasing in last 10 years and has increased nearly tripled from Rs. 39,437.77 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 1,13,825.03 crore in 2017-18.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Dr Singh said the Government has been making sincere efforts to enhance the R&D expenditure and create adequate opportunities for the researchers that include the competitive extramural funding schemes. He added that the government has also taken several steps to increase opportunities for research students pursuing PhD and Post-Doctoral research.

According to a PIB release, Dr Singh further mentioned that the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has recently taken a decision to increase the number of Post-Doctoral Fellowships (PDFs) from 300 annually to 1000. In addition, the SERB-Ramanujan Fellowship, SERB-Ramalingaswami re-entry Fellowship and SERB-Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty Scheme (VAJRA), etc., have been devised to promote brain gain by attracting bright researchers of Indian origin to work and contribute to STI ecosystem in India.