Syllabus: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Overview
- India cannot meet its long-term growth goals through public research grants alone.
- Countries that successfully converted science into industry built steady corporate–campus research linkages.
- The challenge is to shift private research spending from episodic CSR to predictable, long-horizon pipelines.
Global Benchmarks
- Major global technology firms maintain large innovation budgets linked to revenue streams.
- Meta spent $44 billion on research in 2024, nearly a third of revenue.
- U.S. enterprises invested $692 billion in domestic R&D in 2022, roughly 5% of net sales.
- U.S. policy instruments link industry to universities through NSF’s cooperative centres and Semiconductor Research Corporation consortia.
- Huawei spent 179.7 billion yuan in 2024, equal to 20.8% of revenue.
- BYD invested 54.2 billion yuan, recording R&D intensity of nearly 7%.
India’s Current Landscape
- India’s GERD stands near 0.65% of GDP, with firms funding two-fifths.
- Several Indian firms show strong R&D intent:
- Tata Motors: ₹29,398 crore, intensity 6.7% in FY24.
- Sun Pharma: 6.7% of global revenues in FY24.
- Dr. Reddy’s: ₹22.9 billion, about 8.2%.
- Bharat Electronics: 6.24% of turnover.
- Reliance Industries: over ₹4,100 crore in FY24–25.
- India runs notable partnership platforms including IIT Madras Research Park, the iDEX defence initiative, and the India Semiconductor Mission.
Policy Actions Needed
- Set three-year rising R&D-to-sales ratios for key sectors, aligned with exports.
- Use shared IP frameworks that reward both research publication and commercialisation.
- Offer matching grants for projects routed through HEIs with clear deliverables.
- Create pilot lines and testbeds managed by universities and bookable by industry.
- Modernise tax incentives with weighted deductions linked to measurable outputs.
- Train faculty and PhD scholars to work with industry and manage translational research.
- Mandate corporate disclosure of R&D spending, including flows to Indian HEIs.
Conclusion
- India possesses strong labs, talent pools and dynamic markets.
- Research must become a national supply chain, built on transparent targets and durable industry–academic collaboration.