New Delhi: The Centre plans to increase government spending on health research from the current 0.024 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 0.072 percent by 2037 and to 0.15 percent by 2047.
After the six-fold increase by 2047, India would move closer to high-income countries’ levels of investment in health research, but would still remain below the current weighted average of 0.27 percent (as reported by the WHO) for these countries.
The proposal is part of the Draft National Health Research Policy 2026, released Friday by the Department of Health Research. The draft, which updates India’s 2011 National Health Research Policy, lays out the government’s roadmap for planning, funding and coordinating health research over the next two decades.
It identifies tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, vector-borne diseases, cancer, non-communicable diseases, mental health, anaemia, child malnutrition, women’s health, maternal and neonatal mortality, primary healthcare, and emergency care as priority areas for research.
The proposal also plans to change how scientists are evaluated, shifting the focus from the number of research papers to whether their work improves healthcare and influences policy in the real world.
“It is not enough to count studies completed, papers published, grants awarded, or technologies developed,” the draft says.
“The deeper test is whether research strengthens scientific capability, informs policy and practice, builds institutions and people, reaches underserved populations, improves health systems, and contributes to better health for India and the world.”
The policy comes as India expands its biomedical research ecosystem while trying to strengthen domestic capacity in vaccines, diagnostics, medicines and medical technologies. It also acknowledges that despite growth in research over the past decade, public funding remains low, research infrastructure is uneven across the country, and scientific findings often do not translate into healthcare or government policy.
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Challenges in health research
According to the draft, India has expanded its health research capacity over the past decade but continues to face several challenges.
These include low public investment, uneven research capacity across institutions and states, duplication of research by different agencies, delays in translating research into healthcare and policy, and limited collaboration between academia, hospitals, industry and government.
The policy says that while publications remain an important measure of scientific output, they do not show whether research has actually solved health problems.
To address this, the draft proposes creating a National Health Research Agenda that will identify priority research areas based on disease burden, emerging health threats, health system needs, and national priorities.
The agenda will guide funding decisions and be updated periodically, the draft says.
How will scientists be evaluated
One of the key proposals is to expand the use of the ICMR Impact of Research and Innovation Scale (ICMR-IRIS), a framework introduced by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2025 to assess the impact of research beyond publications.
Under the proposed policy, researchers would also be evaluated on whether their work contributes to clinical guidelines, public health programmes, policymaking, indigenous technologies, innovation, capacity building and measurable improvements in health outcomes.
The draft also proposes simplifying ethics approvals for multicentre studies, setting up a National Research Integrity Office (NRIO), encouraging responsible use of artificial intelligence in health research, and expanding shared access to laboratories, biobanks and other publicly funded research facilities.
A bigger role for states and private sector
The policy seeks to expand health research beyond a few leading institutions by strengthening research capacity in medical colleges, encouraging greater participation from private hospitals, startups and industry, and improving collaboration between researchers, policymakers and healthcare providers.
It also proposes that states prepare their own health research agendas based on local disease patterns while aligning them with national priorities. Alongside higher public funding, the draft calls for greater investment from industry, philanthropic organisations and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
According to Anant Bhan, a Bhopal-based researcher in global health and bioethics, the draft is a step towards making health research more responsive to the country’s needs.
“The draft covers the entire research pathway—from identifying priorities to generating evidence, innovation, implementation and measuring real-world impact—while placing ethical and scientific integrity, community participation and accountability at the centre of the research ecosystem,” he told ThePrint.
He also welcomed the proposal to expand research beyond a few institutions and involve states in setting their own research priorities.
However, Bhan said the policy’s goals would require sustained investment and effective implementation.
“This will also help ensure that we encourage good quality and socially and scientifically relevant research while responding to challenges such as inadequate research infrastructure, research misconduct, delays in fellowship payments to research scholars and timely implementation,” he added.
The draft policy has been opened for public comments until 27 July, after which the government is expected to finalise it.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)