The government intends to list the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) on the Social Stock Exchange. This is expected to enable the country’s apex institution for funding, coordinating and promoting scientific research across universities, industry and government, to tap into global CSR funds and contributions from the Indian diaspora.
Conceived as India’s version of a national research funding agency, by the ANRF Act passed in August 2023, the Foundation seeks to transform the country from fragmented, ministry-driven funding to a more integrated, mission-oriented research ecosystem with stronger private-sector participation.
The Foundation is meant to support both fundamental and mission-oriented research work. Under the former, it runs schemes such as the Prime Minister’s Early Career Research Grant (PMECRG), the Advanced Research Grant (ARG), the Inclusivity Research Grant (IRG), and Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research (PAIR). Its mission-mode programmes include Mission for Advancement in High-Impact Areas (MAHA), including initiatives in areas such as electric mobility, artificial intelligence, MedTech and critical raw materials, which have been taken up to address national priorities. As of last week, ANRF has provided ₹961.35 crore of funds.
The listing on the Social Stock Exchange is to create “a diversified and sustainable funding base that is less dependent on annual budgetary grants,” notes a recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology.
The setting up of a Social Stock Exchange was first mentioned in the Budget speech of 2019-20, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that such an exchange would be “for listing social enterprises and voluntary organisations working for the realisation of a social welfare objective so that they can raise capital as equity, debt or as units like a mutual fund.”
Then SEBI created a framework for SSE within India’s existing stock market architecture, after which, in 2023, both BSE and NSE created their own SSE segments.
In December 2023, the SGBS Unnati Foundation became the first entity to list on the SSE and raise funds for skill training of underprivileged youth. In the following year, the Swades Foundation raised Rs 10 crore.
Writing in World Economic Forum, Sreevas Sahasranamam, Professor at the University of Glasgow and Jyotsna Sitling, Member, Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee, SEBI, note that “by ensuring legitimacy with established actors, creating new financial instruments for non-profits, building a cadre of complementary professionals, and standardizing KPIs and monitoring, India has set the building blocks in place for converting philanthropy into a regulated, outcome-based marketplace.”