R&D: A PUBLIC & PRIVATE CHALLENGE

NVESTMENTS in science and technology are vital for building India’s capabilities to address developmental challenges and for securing its strategic future. They will determine the nation’s capacity to compete in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing—especially amid shifting trade policies.

- VENNI V KRISHNA

This calls for greater investment in cutting-edge research and a stronger culture of innovation across universities, research institutions, and industry. The key question, however, is whether India is investing enough to strengthen its science and technology ecosystem.

Successive governments have repeatedly pledged to raise the gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) from the long-stagnant level of 0.7 percent to at least 2 percent of GDP. Yet, India’s GERD-to-GDP ratio has barely moved up for three decades. The country remains far below the OECD average of 2.7 percent, and behind South Korea (4.9 percent), Japan (3.4 percent), and China (2.8 percent). About 58-60 percent of India’s GERD is concentrated in strategic sectors such as atomic energy, space, and defence, leaving only 40 percent for civilian agencies. The university sector receives just 7 percent of GERD despite producing more than half of all science and technology publications, while public companies contribute a mere 4 percent. How can India overcome this persistently low level of R&D funding?