India’s Research & Development (R&D) Spending Doubles in the Last Decade

 India’s Research & Development (R&D) Spending Doubles in the Last Decade

India’s R&D Progress:

Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD): India’s GERD has seen consistent growth, more than doubling from Rs. 60,196.75 crore in 2010–11 to Rs. 127,380.96 crore in 2020–21.
The majority of this expenditure is driven by the government sector, with contributions from:

• Central Government: 43.7%
• State Governments: 6.7%
• Higher Education: 8.8%
• Public Sector Industry: 4.4%

Women’s Participation in R&D: Female involvement in extramural R&D projects has significantly increased, rising from 13% in 2000–01 to 25% in 2019–20.

Global Position in Innovation and Intellectual Property (IP):

• India ranks 39th in the Global Innovation Index 2024.
• India holds the 6th position in global intellectual property filings, according to the WIPO report.

Challenges:

1. Low GERD as a Percentage of GDP:
   India’s GERD remains at just 0.64% of its GDP (2020–21), whereas most developed countries allocate over 2% of their GDP to R&D.

2. Low Private Sector Contribution:
   Private sector involvement in GERD was 36.4% in 2020–21. In contrast, developed and emerging economies typically see business enterprises contributing more than 50% to their R&D efforts.

3. Other Challenges:

• Brain Drain: Many researchers move abroad for better opportunities.
• Weak Industry-Academia Collaboration: Limited partnerships between industry and academic institutions.
• Inadequate Infrastructure: A lack of state-of-the-art research facilities.

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