Economic Survey 2018: Double R&D spend in Science & Tech, involve private sector and states

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India under-spends on research and development (R&D), even relative to its level of development. A doubling of R&D spending in science and technology is necessary and much of the increase should come from the private sector and universities, the Economic Survey said on Monday.

Investments in Indian science, measured in terms of Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD), have tripled in the last decade in absolute terms- from Rs 24,117 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 85,326 crores in 2014-15 and an estimated Rs 1,04,864 crores in 2016-17.

However, as a fraction of GDP, public expenditures on research have been stagnant at between 0.6 to 0.7 percent of GDP, over the past two decades.

The survey also noted that in addition to India’s R&D spending being lower than other big countries- US (2.8 percent of GDP), China (2.1 percent of GDP), Israel (4.3 percent of GDP) and Korea (4.2 percent of GDP)- it is also mostly carried out by the government.

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“Even more, government expenditure on R&D is undertaken almost entirely by the central government. There is a need for greater State Government spending, especially application-oriented R&D aimed at problems specific to their economies and populations,” the Economic Survey noted.

It also noted that since the 1950s, India’s universities have had little to do with research. The survey also pointed out a lack of enough skilled workforce that can carry out quality research, especially in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

The survey proposes improving math and cognitive skills at the school level, encouraging investigator-led approach, increasing funding from private players as well as state governments, linking national labs to universities, and taking a mission-driven approach to R&D as solutions to the existing state of the science and technology R&D scenario in India.