BENGALURU: For every Rs 100 spent on R&D, the govt contributes about Rs 48 while private industry accounts for Rs 45, latest data from R&D Statistics At a Glance 2025-26 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), shows.The remaining Rs 7 comes from scientific and industrial research organisations (SIROs) and private higher education institutions.India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) breached Rs 2.4-lakh crore in 2023-24, more than three times the Rs 79,356 crore recorded a decade ago. However, overall R&D spend is still under 1% of the GDP, touching 0.8%, as per the latest figures.Private industry’s share in GERD increased from 39.7% in 2020-21 to 45.2% in 2023-24 in just three years. During the same period, govt share declined from 54.5% to 48.2%, although it continues to remain the country’s single largest contributor to research spending.The report notes that private R&D expenditure has been growing at an average annual rate of around 20% over the last three years.While the DST report’s detailed analysis is up to 2023-24, it has projected overall trends for two more years: “The upward [spending] trend is expected to continue, with GERD projected to reach nearly Rs 2.8-lakh-crore by 2024-25 and more than Rs 3.1-lakh-crore crore by 2025–26,” it reads.Govt spending continues to be concentrated in strategic and public-interest sectors. Among the Centre’s scientific agencies, DRDO accounted for 32.7%, followed by the Department of Space (15%), Department of Atomic Energy (14.4%), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (13.1%) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (8.7%). Together, 12 major scientific agencies accounted for 76% of govt R&D spend.Transportation emerged as the biggest destination for industrial R&D, accounting for 32.6% of private sector expenditure, followed by pharmaceuticals (21.4%), biotechnology (8.6%), IT (7.9%) and electrical and electronics (5.9%).The report also highlights the growing role of MNCs in India’s research landscape. Their share in business R&D expenditure has increased from 49.9% in 2020-21 to 71.3% in 2023-24. According to the report, the growth rate of R&D expenditure has outpaced GDP growth after 2021-22, except in 2022-23, reflecting the increasing priority accorded to research and innovation.Despite the encouraging trends, India continues to trail many major economies in research intensity. At 0.8% of GDP, the country’s R&D expenditure remains below that of China (2.6%), Brazil (1.2%) and several advanced economies that invest more than 2% of their GDP in research.
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Nevertheless, the latest figures point to a maturing innovation ecosystem where the burden of financing research is gradually shifting from being overwhelmingly government-led to one in which private enterprise is emerging as an almost equal partner.
