Indian Firms Outpace Global Peers In R&D Growth: Report

New Delhi, May 31 (KNN) Indian firms across four key sectors – aerospace and defence, automobile and components, chemicals, and energy – have reported higher growth in research and development (R&D) expenditure than their global counterparts during the period spanning fiscal years 2016 to 2023.

According to a recent study by the Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (FAST India), Indian firms have maintained their R&D growth momentum despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the R&D tax regime.

The report analysed the R&D strength of 119 domestic companies across four parameters – R&D intensity, publications by revenue, patents per billion dollar revenue, and proportion of PhD employees.

"Indian firms have performed slightly better than global firms in R&D growth, albeit from a much lower baseline," the report stated, underscoring the need for Indian companies to enhance their performance in both R&D inputs and outputs to remain competitive in the global market.

Notably, the study revealed that Indian pharmaceutical firms ranked highest in terms of R&D intensity and proportion of PhD employees, while defence firms scored better in publications by revenue. Chemical companies, on the other hand, outperformed global firms in patents by revenue and proportion of PhD employees.

While Indian firms excelled in disclosing R&D-related information in their annual reports, with an average disclosure score of 6.2 out of 10 compared to 3.7 for global firms, they lagged behind their global counterparts in certain areas.

For instance, global firms published 355 times more patents than Indian firms during the study period in absolute numbers and invested 2.9 times their profits in R&D compared to Indian firms.

K. VijayRaghavan, former principal scientific advisor to the government, emphasised the findings, stating, "Despite facing challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the R&D tax regime, Indian firms have shown slightly higher R&D growth, albeit from a much lower baseline, compared with global firms and scored well in R&D disclosures to the public. However, the findings also underscore the need for Indian firms to increase their performance in both R&D inputs and outputs to perform competitively in the global market."

(KNN Bureau)