Are research opportunities common in India and how can I enroll in a research program in India during my undergraduate studies? I am an Indian, currently in 12th standard and I am pretty sure next year I am going to be in a decent UNI for my bachelor's in physics. I have read a lot about undergraduate research in Western colleges but I am not very sure about that here in India, as I have heard that a very small amount of money from the GDP is spent on research every year - like 0.6%. So I was curious if I will be able to get any research opportunities during my initial college years or not.
Another question is:
-- Are researches necessarily done by college professors or there are other groups of researchers who provide opportunities out of school?
Some observations:

In India, as far as I know, some institutes like CMI, etc. offer (or used to offer) internship programs. Please note, it is usually very competitive to get selected. Earlier, they used to select students based on NPTEL exam results. I remember reading somewhere that you could also email the respective professor and ask if he/she is willing to assign an intern. So, it is best to email the professor. He/she might invite you to work with him/her during Summer/Winter vacation.

Sometimes, I see professors of electronics asking undergrads to write codes. So, you can understand that they would let you do something which perhaps they might not be very comfortable with (reasons being, new languages, new areas, etc). I remember a friend of mine was assisting a professor by writing python codes for some machine learning experiment. Most of the Physics/Electronics professors in India above 50s are comfortable with FORTRAN, while the younger generation learns Python right at high school.

Usually, you would not see much research in a normal college offering undergraduate degrees. They wouldn't have the equipment, etc. They go to a university for those.


So, if you are willing to contribute to research the best thing would be to:

talk/email professors from your areas of interest. If you are in a reputed institute like in one of the IITs, IISc, etc. it becomes easier and it's best to try to get into one of such institutes.