Transport,
pharma and biotech become India’s biggest research investors
Prelims:
Science & Technology
Mains:
GS Paper III-Science and Technology
Current relevance:
The Department
of Science and Technology (DST), in its Research and Development
Statistics 2025–26, reported that private industry has become the
largest contributor to India's R&D expenditure, with the
transportation, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and IT sectors leading corporate
research investments.
Highlights:
1.
The Department
of Science and Technology (DST) has released the Research and
Development Statistics 2025–26 report, highlighting the expanding role of
private industry in driving India's research investment and innovation
ecosystem.
2. Private industry accounted for 45.5% of national
R&D expenditure in 2021–22, increasing to 51.8% in 2023–24,
marking the first time that businesses contributed more to India's research
effort than all levels of government combined.
3. The transportation
industry became India's largest corporate R&D investor, followed
by:
·
Pharmaceuticals
·
Biotechnology
·
Information Technology (IT)
·
Electrical and Electronics
Collectively, these sectors constituted the largest
share of private industrial R&D expenditure.
4. India's R&D
expenditure reached 0.83% of GDP in 2021–22, crossing the 0.8% threshold
for the first time since 2009–10.
5. The report estimates
that R&D expenditure will approach 0.9% of GDP in 2025–26.
6. Compared to earlier DST statistics, the transport
sector's R&D investment has nearly tripled, while biotechnology
has emerged as one of India's leading research-intensive industries and IT
has become a major corporate R&D investor.
7. Private Sector Research Workforce:
The report estimates that private industry
employed more full-time equivalent (FTE) R&D personnel than government
institutions in 2023–24, indicating a significant shift in India's research
workforce.
8. The growth in private R&D expenditure was
driven primarily by business enterprises, with a relatively small number
of companies contributing the majority of corporate research investments.
Source: THE
HINDU - https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-hindu-kolkata-9ww9/20260805/281998974265374