The allotment of Rs 2,000 crore in the Union Budget 2023 for the proposed National Research Foundation, a new funding agency to strengthen India's research competence, has grown expectations among different quarters for it to take wings soon.

Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, announced the budget to (NRF)- National Research Foundation as a part of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and not as an agency independent of the government.

However, government officials stated that the allocations to the National Research Foundation (NR)F were kept in the outlay for the Department of Science & Technology (DST) the as the funding agency was yet to obtain permission from the Union Cabinet.

Secretary Srivari Chandrasekhar, Department of Science & Technology (DST), said it is a new government scheme to fund cutting-edge science, particularly for the state universities.

He said the Union Cabinet was expected to approve the proposition of positioning up National Research Foundation (NRF) very soon. Chandrasekhar said the initiative to put up the NRF was driven by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the government and was also part of the NEP. The Ministry of Science and Technology received a budget of Rs 16,361.42 crore in the Union Budget, with the DST receiving Rs 7,931.05 crore.

An official said this includes a condition for NRF to handle the critical need for a professional and thorough research framework that directs human and material resources toward carrying out well-coordinated research across fields and all kinds of institutions.

Apart from DST, the Ministry of Science & Technology also has the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, which have acquired Rs 2,683.86 crore & Rs 5,746.51 crore. PM Narendra Modi had first denied setting up the NRF in his address to the Indian Science Congress in January the year 2019, and it found a statement in the Union Budget that year.

In 2021, the finance minister suggested an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore over five years for the NRF. India has 255 researchers per million, which is much less than that of the United States, 4,245 researchers per million, the UK (4,341), Japan (5,304), and South Korea (7,498).