What happened: private industry becomes the majority in India’s R&D spending (2023-24)
Department of Science and Technology indicators for 2023-24 show a milestone: private industry accounts for over half of India’s research and development (R&D) spending, surpassing all government tiers combined for the first time. The indicators also show that private industry employs more core researchers than government institutions. The indicators point to stronger private R&D activity in transport companies, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and information technology.
Background and earlier position: a sharp rise around 2020-21 to 2021-22 plus global-lag indicators
Department of Science and Technology indicators show that private R&D and total national R&D rose sharply around 2020-21 to 2021-22. To contextualise India’s position, the indicators use international comparison measures such as R&D intensity (R&D as a share of gross domestic product) and researcher density (researchers per population base) to show that India’s overall research ecosystem still lags global research leaders.