The recently published Think Tanks State of the Sector report by On Think Tanks looked at the functioning and role of think tanks across the world, including India. The survey, answered by 11 Indian think tanks, reveals some interesting highlights about them. The number of think tanks in India—both government-led and independent ones are only increasing. With over 600 think tanks, as of 2020, India has the third highest number of think tanks in the world, after the United States and China.
Nearly half of the Indian think tanks surveyed functioned under mixed or project-based funding. Many of the think tanks stated that they often struggled to cover indirect costs. 50% of the organisations found it moderately hard to cover indirect organisational costs. 16% said they found it ‘very hard’ to cover indirect costs.
Project funding is for specific projects, such as research on a particular problem or challenge. It is restrictive in that it only covers only direct project-related costs and does not contribute to other departments that support the overall functioning of the organisation, such as communication, HR, or finance. Meanwhile, core funding is unrestricted and can be used for any relevant purpose of running the organisation. It’s essential for daily operations and often pays for salaries, rent, utilities, insurance, and other general overheads. Core funding gives organisations the flexibility to allocate resources as needed as well as to innovate.
Although funding and the number of think tanks have seen an increase in the last year, the future of think tanks seems uncertain. 36% of think tanks felt the funding environment may be ‘unfavourable’ in the country in the next 12 months, and a majority ‘agreed’ to the survey statement on whether the organisations were facing current challenges due to a shortage of new funding sources. In spite of this, 90% of the organisations in India taking the survey showed remarkable resilience. 90% of them agreed that they have a satisfactory ability to adapt to the challenges it is currently facing. All think tanks in the country agreed unanimously that political polarisation would directly affect funding.
