Budget gives science missions big numbers but core funding gaps persist Premium

The 2026-27 Union Budget highlights ambitious science initiatives, yet critical funding gaps for basic research remain a concern.

The Union Budget 2026-27 presented science as an instrument of growth, with large numbers on biopharma, semiconductors, carbon capture, and research-linked industrial finance on paper. However, expert reactions to this budget point to a more fragile reality.

As the state attempts to move from adopting technologies to creating them, by building mission-linked platforms in biopharma, semiconductors, critical materials, and climate, it seems that the limiting factor isn’t the ambition of schemes but what the government actually delivers — including reliable and timely funds, autonomy for research institutions, and the transparency and performance of large finance vehicles for innovation.

In 2023-24, allocation for the Department of Biotechnology was revised down from ₹2,683.86 crore (BE) to ₹1,607.32 crore (RE), and actual spending fell further to ₹1,467.34 crore. Likewise for the Department of Science and Technology, from ₹7,931.05 crore (BE) to ₹4,891.78 crore (RE) and actuals of ₹4,002.67 crore. Even in 2024-25, when the Depart of Biotechnology’s RE of ₹2,460.13 crore exceeded its BE, the Department of Science and Technology experienced a sizeable cut from ₹8,029.01 crore (BE) to ₹5,661.45 crore (RE).

Against this backdrop, L.S. Shahisdhara, director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, framed the biopharma outlay as welcome but incomplete. He pointed to “significant funding shortfalls following major changes introduced in 2024-25 to the fund-flow system” and to delays in the transition from the Science and Engineering Research Board to the Anusandhan National Research Foundation.

According to him, some of the under-spending in recent years may have been less about lack of intent and more about administrative disruption. The budget, he said, has at least avoided “punishing” science departments for that disruption by cutting overall allocations.

The biggest allocation this year was for a new programme called ‘Biopharma SHAKTI’, of ₹10,000 crore over five years. Department of Biotechnology secretary Rajesh Gokhale said it will address non-communicable diseases and scale indigenous development and manufacturing of biologics and biosimilars. He linked it explicitly to the earlier DBT-National Biopharma Mission.