Abstract
Limited awareness of extramural research funding hinders healthcare research growth in India, especially among non-medical professionals. This cross-sectional study among 400 health researchers assessed awareness and challenges related to research grants. Only 48.6% knew of funding agencies, with 82.9% recognizing only ICMR and 74.3% unaware of proposal drafting formats (p=0.001). Most participants (85.7%) lacked experience with extramural grants. Thus, we show the urgent need for research grant training and integration of proposal writing into health curricula to enhance funding utilization in India.