MoSPI Seeks Feedback on Knowledge Systems Panel Report

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has thrown open for public comment the final report of its Committee on Knowledge Systems. The report carries an Actionable Policy Paper on how the contribution of knowledge and knowledge products to the Indian economy should be measured. Suggestions may be sent to the Ministry until 12 December 2026.

Who prepared it

The committee was set up on 5 May 2026 under the chairmanship of Shri Ratan P. Watal, who earlier served as Member Secretary of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Its brief was to turn an earlier base paper into an actionable framework.

How the exercise began

• A first meeting chaired by Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, was held on 10 February 2025 and set the direction.
• MoSPI then formed a Technical Advisory Group in May 2025 under Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, at that time a Member of the Capacity Building Commission.
• The group held a brainstorming workshop on 30 September 2025.
• A Base Paper on the framework was released in May 2026.

What the paper proposes

The paper describes a Knowledge Ecosystem made of eight connected components, among them knowledge capabilities and assets, enabling infrastructure, knowledge creation activities, knowledge products, knowledge-embedded products, knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship and knowledge application. To decide what counts as a knowledge product, it suggests five broad tests: knowledge as an input, knowledge content, identifiability, codification and economic value. These are offered as guiding principles rather than hard rules.

Because the whole ecosystem cannot be measured in one go, the paper asks for a family of thematic accounts consistent with the System of National Accounts 2025, instead of a single headline number. It names priority areas for such accounts: human capital, research and development, the creative economy, artificial intelligence systems, data and databases, high-technology and frontier products, and the digital economy.

Who would do the measuring

A federated model is proposed. System integrators would supply the common framework, domain institutions such as sectoral ministries would measure their own areas, and key partners including state governments, regulators and academic institutions would contribute. Similar work is already under way on a Culture Satellite Account, on measuring the space economy and on the digital economy's share of the gross domestic product.