Policy Update
Krishna Sunish
Background
The Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institutes (SATHI) programme, launched by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has the vision to establish a shared, professionally managed Science and Technology (S&T) facility for the nation as a whole. The programme is bound to address key concerns in accessibility, maintenance, and replication of expensive scientific equipment in educational and research institutions. The inception of SATHI is rooted in the need to democratize access to high-end analytical equipment and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, which are otherwise unaffordable for most institutions, especially MSMEs, start-ups, and lower-endowed universities.
The objective of SATHI is to create centralized, state-of-the-art facilities that provide efficient, transparent, and round-the-clock services to academia, industries, start-ups, and R&D labs. These facilities foster interdisciplinary research, innovation, and collaboration by bridging gaps between fundamental science and industrial applications. The program was initiated in the financial year 2022-23 with an initial funding model of 75:25 and a project duration of up to four years per center.
Since December 2024, five main SATHI centers have been established in leading institutions (IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Varanasi, and BITS Pilani). These are national hubs for analytical and technical support equipped with cutting-edge instruments like aberration-corrected high-resolution TEM, time-of-flight SIMS, and state-of-the-art microscopy platforms. The benefactors are industries, students, start-ups, MSMEs, and researchers across India, 80% of whose facility time will be available for external users in order to make maximum use of the facility.
Functioning
SATHI functions as a consortium model where a lead host institute works with various partner institutions in academia, research, and industry. The centers are managed professionally to maximize utilization, make them accessible, and maintain complex instruments. The centers provide services including fabrication work, rapid prototyping, material testing, device characterization, and smart manufacturing.
These facilities can be used by the users on a nominal charge basis from the I-STEM platform or directly from the concerned centers. The usage policy requires that 80% of the facility time be allocated for use by external users (non-host institute) and 20% for internal users, to provide wide reach and utilization of resources effectively.
Capacity development is an integral part of SATHI, and centers conduct short-term courses, workshops, and on-the-job training in the use and maintenance of instruments. Technicians are trained and captured systematically for sustained operational competency and for knowledge sharing among centers.
A notable instance is the SATHI-CISCoM center at IIT Hyderabad, funded by a consortium of 18 partner institutions, which facilitates real-time multi-length scale characterization for basic and industrial R&D. This center reflects the interdisciplinary and collaborative culture of SATHI, aggregating scientists from physical sciences, chemistry, biology, and pharmaceutical science to tackle intricate scientific issues.
Performance (2022-2025)
Funding and Utilization
The scheme has been funded regularly by DST with the following allocations approx.:
| Financial Year | Budget Allocation (₹ Crore) | Utilization (₹ Crore) (approx.) |
| 2021-2022 | 46.7 | 44.5 |
| 2022-2023 | 37.62 | 36.8 |
| 2023-2024 | 34.09 | 33.5 |
Source: Ministry of Science and Technology Annual Reports, PIB Releases
These finances have supported the installation and operation of five SATHI centers, which collectively analyze approximately 100,000 samples annually and serve over 32,000 users, yielding approximately 2,200 research papers annually
Institutions Covered: IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad, BHU Varanasi, BITS Pilani, and 17 partner institutions made up of universities and national laboratories.
User Base: Academia mainly (60%), MSMEs and start-ups (25%), industries (15%).
Sectoral Applications: Pharmaceuticals, materials science, biotechnology, manufacturing, and engineering.
Interdisciplinary research projects and sample throughput are strong for SATHI-CISCoM at IIT Hyderabad, while GLP-certified analytical services in pharmaceuticals and food industries are strong for the center at BHU.
Impact
SATHI has had a quantifiable effect in increasing access to tools for scientific research. It has helped less funded state universities, regional colleges, and MSMEs to conduct high-caliber research by accessing equipment that was hitherto available to elite institutions. The model also supports the building of human capacity through training in high-level instrumentation and maintenance.
These facilities have emerged as drivers of research collaboration between institutions and disciplines. For instance, SATHI Hyderabad facilitates physical sciences, chemistry, biology, and pharmaceutical research by providing microscopy facilities to academic as well as industrial users. A six-floor Central Discovery Centre has been established at BHU to facilitate innovation, entrepreneurship, and start-ups.
By centralizing services, the scheme has decreased redundancy, improved efficiency, and pushed towards a more inclusive research environment. Notably, SATHI is reducing the reliance on foreign labs for sample testing, particularly in industries such as drugs, food, and materials that need certified and standardized analysis.
Emerging Issues
Despite the remarkable improvement under the SATHI scheme, there have been a number of challenges that need immediate attention to guarantee its long-term success and equitable application. One of the key concerns is the disproportionate geographical spread of SATHI facilities, where some of the states like Andhra Pradesh remain without access to such vital infrastructure, which threatens to keep large pockets of the academic and industrial community out of equal benefits. Furthermore, with the completion of the first cycle of funding from DST, financial sustainability concerns have been more strongly raised, with most centers still far from establishing strong revenue generation mechanisms to sustain themselves autonomously.
Knowledge about SATHI services availability and access protocols among potential consumers, particularly among small institutions and industries, through platforms such as I-STEM continues to be low, causing under-exploitation. In addition, the lack of skilled staff to run, maintain, and read output from advanced equipment continues to be a problem, jeopardizing the optimal utilization of available infrastructure. Coordination among institutions within clusters can also be problematic when their respective roles, duties, and revenue-sharing arrangements are uncertain, which may hinder efficient operation.
Suggestions
To meet these challenges, some implementable recommendations can be explored: targeted publicity and outreach in local languages to educate prospective users; promoting co-investments by state governments, businesses, and philanthropic organizations to promote financial viability; establishing routine technician training and certification courses to create a constant flow of trained manpower; simplifying governance through transparent agreements, electronic coordination instruments, and decisive leadership; and aligning SATHI with national programs of innovation and state-level start-up networks to ground its appropriateness and viability in India’s changing research and development environment.
Way Forward
SATHI scheme is a game changer in India’s science infrastructure policy. Through democratization of research by the collective sharing of state-of-the-art equipment, it improves the innovation ecosystem. In the future, there should be an emphasis on increasing the number of centers, particularly in the backward areas, and further connecting the scheme with national programs like Make in India, Startup India, and Digital India.
There must be an effort to create financially viable business models for each center that are supplemented by a mix of user fees, industrial collaborations, and public funding. Secondly, skill development must remain the focus area for the scheme design to have trained personnel to man such sophisticated centers.
As India aspires to be a global science and innovation leader, efforts like SATHI have a crucial role to play in facilitating the infrastructure backbone that enables research, discovery, and entrepreneurship.
Selected References and Important Links
- Department of Science and Technology (DST). (n.d.). Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI). Retrieved from https://dst.gov.in/sophisticated-analytical-technical-help-institutes-sathi
- SATHI-BHU. (n.d.). Welcome Message. Retrieved from https://www.sathibhu.org/cms/welcome-message/15
- Vajiram & Ravi. (n.d.). SATHI Scheme. Retrieved from https://vajiramandravi.com/current-affairs/sathi/
- SATHI-IIT Hyderabad. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from https://sathi.iith.ac.in/about-us
- Press Information Bureau (PIB). (2024, June 4). DST Enhances Research Ecosystem Through SATHI Scheme. Retrieved from https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2083208
- NEXT IAS. (n.d.). SATHI Scheme – Overview and Significance. Retrieved from https://www.nextias.com/blog/sathi-scheme/
- Department of Science and Technology (DST). (n.d.). R&D Infrastructure. Retrieved from https://dst.gov.in/rd-infrastructure-0
- SATHI-IIT Delhi. (n.d.). Welcome to SATHI, IIT Delhi. Retrieved from https://sathi.iitd.ac.in/
About the Contributor
Krishna Sunish is a research IMPRI (Impact and Policy Research Institute), is currently pursuing her bachelor’s in economics from CMS College Kottayam (Autonomous). The article is written as part of the Policy Updates initiative under the supervision of the IMPRI research team.
Acknowledgement: The author sincerely thanks the IMPRI team for their valuable support.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
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