"India's public sector component is higher than anywhere else in the world," Sibal said.

The main reason for the poor state of research in the country, he said, was that while the universities had grown two-and-a-half times in the last 25 years, their laboratory facilities had not kept pace.

"Twenty-five years ago, the universities accounted for 50 percent of the research that was being conducted and the national laboratories accounted for the balance. Today, the university has all but vanished," Sibal said.

He hoped that the Rs.750 billion that had been allocated for science and technology in the budget for fiscal 2008-09 would help in putting research back on track.

He added that under the INSPIRE project his ministry had initiated, 10,000 students would be granted Rs.100,000 a year to acquire a bachelor's and master's degree in science.