Beyond Jugaad

India cannot afford to ignore the big picture when it comes to innovation’s role in R&D.

- Madhavi Lokhande and  Anand Lokhande

The Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem in India presents untapped and perhaps underutilised opportunity for corporations across the world. Consequently, several mnCs are shifting their R&D bases to India— not merely on account of the cost benefit but also due to the intellectual and technical capabilities available. These R&D centres either develop products to serve the local market or help the parent company deliver innovative solutions to markets across the world.

Market Size 

According to an India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) report, India-based R&D globalisation and R&D services markets reached $20 bn overall in 2015, up by 9.9% over 2014. The R&D services market stood at $7.76 bn and the R&D globalisation market (captives) stood at $12.25 bn. Together, the R&D markets are set to almost double by 2020, to $38 bn.

The report indicates that India accounts for 40% ($12.3 bn) of the total $31 bn of globalised engineering R&D in 2015. according to the study, India-based R&D services companies, which account for almost 22% of the global addressed market, grew much faster at 12.67%. India’s engineering research and development (ER&D) services market is expected to reach $15-17 bn by 2020, and north america continues to be the largest market by contributing 55% of revenues.

Innovation culture in India

Innovation is widely recognised as a central driver of economic growth and development. Post-independence, the focus of policymakers has been towards the development of science. The decision to set up and nurture public sector undertakings, and then gravitate towards a scientific policy aimed at the acquisition, dissemination, and discovery of scientific knowledge, worked well for the nation. The strategy adopted was cultivation of science and scientific research with a suboptimal focus on technology development.