India's spending on R&D less compared to China, US

India is making rapid progress in R&D but the country's investment on it as a percentage of GDP is very low compared to countries like China, the US, and Israel, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24.

Private sector's contribution to R&D also remains low, the survey said.

The link between higher education, industry and research must be strengthened to better translate GERD (gross expenditure on R&D) to research output, according to the document tabled in Parliament on Monday.

It also pointed out that institutions in India develop technologies, but their transformation rate from the lab to the society for the benefit of the people remains low.

"India is making rapid progress in R&D, with nearly one lakh patents granted in FY24, compared to less than 25,000 patent grants in FY20," the survey said.

Citing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) data, it said India saw the highest growth (31.6 per cent) in patent filings in 2022, demonstrating its evolving innovation landscape and potential for further growth in intellectual property creation.

India has consistently improved its rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st position in 2015 to 40th in 2023, as per GII (2023), the survey added.

Further, it said as a mark of India's ascent in high-quality research, the country climbed up to the 9th rank in the Nature's Index 2023, overtaking Australia and Switzerland.

Yet, the survey said, "India's R&D investment as a percentage of GDP stands at 0.64 per cent, compared to China (2.41 per cent), the US (3.47 per cent), and Israel (5.71 per cent)." Moreover, it said, "The private sector's contribution to R&D remains low at 36.4 per cent of the country's GERD compared to China (77 per cent), US (75 per cent)." It, however, noted that GERD in India has been consistently increasing over the years and has more than doubled from Rs 60,196.8 crore in FY11 to Rs 127,381 crore in FY21.

To better translate GERD to research output, the survey said, "The link between higher education, industry and research must be strengthened." "Another challenge is low 'Land to Lab' time. Institutions in India develop technologies, but their transformation rate from the lab to the society for the benefit of the people remains low," it added.

The survey acknowledged that India's share of high-quality research articles, measured in terms of absolute numbers and not percentages, increased 44 per cent in the past four years. However, the country's share remains significantly lower compared to over 20,000 of China and the US each.

On the human resource side, total PhD enrolments in India have increased to 81.2 per cent in FY22 (2.13 lakh) from FY15 (1.17 lakh), the survey noted.