Committee on Knowledge Systems Report: Measuring Knowledge in the Indian Economy

Background

MoSPI began work in 2025: a meeting chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser on 10 February 2025, a Technical Advisory Group in May 2025, a workshop on 30 September 2025 and a Base Paper in May 2026. The Committee on Knowledge Systems was constituted on 5 May 2026 under Shri Ratan P. Watal.

1. Base Paper (May 2026) ↓
2. Committee constituted 5 May 2026 ↓
3. Actionable Policy Paper ↓
4. Public feedback till 12 December 2026

Key facts:

Why does it matter?

Knowledge now drives productivity and value creation, but the economy has no single account that shows how much it contributes. The release says AI systems can generate knowledge and solutions beyond conventional human creation, which makes measurement harder and more urgent.

The Committee's paper proposes a practical route: instead of one aggregate figure, a set of thematic accounts that can be built step by step, starting with the areas that matter most for growth and competitiveness.

Significance

• Measuring knowledge shows strengths, capability gaps and priorities for the Viksit Bharat vision.
• The paper notes that AI systems now generate knowledge in ways beyond conventional human creation, so measurement must adapt.
• It sets five boundary conditions to identify knowledge products: knowledge as input, content, identifiability, codification and economic value.

Issues and challenges

• The paper says measuring the whole ecosystem at once is infeasible.
• The boundaries are guiding principles, not rigid criteria, so classification can vary.
• Data must come from many institutions, which needs coordination.

Stakeholder view:

What the paper proposes: The paper outlines a Knowledge Ecosystem and proposes boundary conditions to decide what counts as a knowledge product. It says such boundaries are broad guiding principles that leave room for the diversity of products.

It also asks that priorities among components be set by contribution to growth, productivity, competitiveness, inclusive growth and livelihoods, future significance and cost-effective measurability.

Way forward

• Develop a family of SNA 2025-consistent thematic statistics or accounts.
• Start with Human Capital, R&D, Creative Economy, AI systems, Data and Databases, High-Tech Products and Frontier Technologies, and Digital Economy.
• Use a federated model that shares responsibilities by institutional mandate.

Value-addition points for Mains

• Similar efforts include a Culture Satellite Account begun in 2025 and a 2025 study of the Digital Economy's contribution to GDP for 2022-23.
• Work is also under way on measuring the Space Economy's contribution to GDP.
• The paper proposes eight ecosystem components from knowledge to knowledge application.

Essay use: argue that what a country measures shapes what it prioritises, using knowledge accounts as the example.