Syllabus: GS-III, Subject: Science and Technology, Topic: Policy and Mission, Issue: India’s Research & Development (R&D) spending
Spending on R&D:
- India’s R&D expense has decreased.
Issues:
- Insufficient and primarily dependent on public funds.
- Private sector is resistant due to.
- Poor capacity to evaluate R&D in India.
- ambiguous regulatory roadmaps.
- lack of clear exit options for investors in sectors, and
- fears of intellectual property rights theft.
- Underutilization of government budget.
Suggestions:
- Increase contributions from the private sector
- Mitigating under-spending and under-utilization of R&D funds.
- Incentives for private investment like tax rebates and clear regulatory roadmaps.
- Bureaucratic capacity to evaluate and monitor science projects.
Conclusion:
Sustainable funding for science is crucial for India’s journey towards sustainable development.
| +1 Advantage for Mains (data points)
India’s R&D expense: the current 0.64% of GDP, 0.8% in 2008-2009 and 0.7% in 2017-2018. Ø Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (2013) – Increasing Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) to 2% GDP as a national goal. Ø Much below than Average spending of developed countries on R&D ( between 2% and 4% of GDP). Ø To reach developed nation status India needs to spend at least 3% of the GDP on R&D annually until 2047. Data on percentage of spending by various sector Ø In 2020-2021, private sector industry contributed 36.4% of the GERD whereas the Union government’s share was 43.7%. |
