Scientific research in India has very strong foundations in public research and is for the most part dominated by the vast network of public research institutions. There is however a fast growing private sector, that is conducting cutting edge research and excelling in new and emerging fields of research.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) coordinates, supports, and oversees scientific activities and research in the country.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) coordinates scientific research and education in the field of biotechnology. It has a number of affiliated institutes under it that focus on biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology in particular.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR): Comparable to the CNRS in France, the CSIR is the primary institution run by the DSIR. It employs over 18000 and includes over 40 national centres of fundamental and applied research covering a whole range of fields.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR): India’s counterpart to the INRA, the ICAR is an autonomous organisation and the Ministry of Agriculture’s main research wing. ICAR develops, promotes and coordinates research in agronomy and related fields through its network of research institutes.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR): Falling under the Ministry of Health, the ICMR develops and coordinates medical research. Like the INSERM, ICMR runs a number of research units that are at the forefront of Indian medical and public heath research.
The Department of Space coordinates India’s space research programmes and brings together under its wing 14 organisations, of which the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the most important.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) manages India’s research in the nuclear and associated sectors such as energy. Apart from well known institutions such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the DAE also supports a number of research institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (and its associated units), the Institute of Physics in Bhubhaneswar, the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences Chennai etc.
The Department of Information Technology supports numerous IT programmes like SAMEER (the Society for Applied Micorwave Electronics Engineering and Research), bio-informatics projects, microelectronics and nanotechnology projects at major research institutions such as the IISc and the IITs. It also has a strong industrial outreach programme which includes the Software Technology Parks of India, the Bio-IT Parks and the National Informatics Centres.
India's higher education system is one of the largest in the world, after China and the United States. Universities in India are awarded 'central university' status, 'deemed university' status, 'institutes of national importance' or come under the purview of the States. With an increasing number of private institutions offering professional and technical courses, the number of colleges (over 16000) and higher education institutes in India has mushroomed in the past two decades. India also produces the largest number of technical and engineering graduates.
A list of some of the universities that have collaborated in the past with French scientists is available here.
Institutes of national importance are those institutes that the Government has identified as playing a crucial role in the development and progress of the country. The Indian Institutes of Technology, the National Institutes of Technology (ex Regional Engineering Colleges or RECs),the Indian Institute of Science, the Indian Statistical Institute, the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research and certain Medical Institutes (NIMHANS, AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh, JIPMER, SGPGIMS) are some of the Institutes that have been awarded Institute of National Importance status.
While a considerable portion of scientific research takes place in the numerous public institutes set up all over the country, private institutes too contribute to the scientific output of the country. For instance, private institutes excel in certain new and emerging fields of research such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. In certain fields, private S & T institutes perform well against their public counterparts in terms of scientific output as well and are undertaking cutting edge research.
The entire range of higher education institutions featured in a recent ranking of S & T institutes in India by scientific output. While a select few institutes at the top account for most of the scientific output (the IISc and the IITs are ranked the best) some universities, already well known for their scientific expertise such as Jadavpur University, Anna University, CUSAT (Kochi), BITS Pilani, Banaras Hindu University have also excelled and private institutes are increasingly dominating new and emerging fields of research.
French scientists have enjoyed collaborations with their Indian counterparts working in the entire spectrum of Indian institutes.
A number of joint projects have also been set up between the two countries. See the section on Indo French Research for more information.
A non exhaustive list of institutes (public and private) that have collaborated in the past with France is available here.
Know more
A guide to public scientific research in India (excluding universities) has been compiled by the Scientific Service. To read the guide (in French), please click here.
To read more about the prominent Indian research organisations (categorised by discipline) , please click here.
- Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc)
- National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI)
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)
- National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS)
- Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
- National Centre for Biological Sciences (NBCS)
- Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT)
