Science and research and development (R&D) play a big role in driving economic growth globally. A recent study found that public investment in R&D delivers big returns, estimating an average annual return of 20 per cent. This means for every USD 1 invested, private firms can expect to gain 20 cents back each year.
As per a The Royal Society report, there are four key ways that science and R&D contribute to economic impact including generating new knowledge and ideas, driving innovation and productivity, creating skilled jobs, and fostering broader economic benefits that may not be directly monetised.
But India’s spending on R&D points to a big gap compared to other countries. While India allocates just 0.7 per cent of its GDP to R&D, the United States invests 2.8 per cent, China 2.1 per cent, Israel 4.3 per cent, and South Korea 4.6 per cent. The difference is also evident in the number of researchers per one lakh people: India has only 25, compared to 441 in the United States, 130 in China, 834 in Israel, and 749 in South Korea.
This raises the question: Despite India producing the second highest number of STEM graduates globally, is it truly a country that enables a love for science and supports R&D?
“It might be an exaggeration to say India is a science-loving nation,” said Infosys Founder N R Narayanamurthy. “Because the we have startups are founded and nurtured by a small group of people in a country of 1.45 billion. Even if you have 3,000 startups with 20 leaders each, that’s still a small number.”
“Additionally, we haven’t won major global awards in science or mathematics. Whether it's the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal, or the Shaw Prize, we’ve had only one Millennium Prize winner, Ashoke Sen, who just retired from the Harish-Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad. Since Sir C.V. Raman won the Nobel Prize for work done in India, we haven’t had a single case like that. Yes, Srinivas Kulkarni at Caltech won the Shaw Prize, but he’s based in the US. Manjul Bhargava and Akshay Venkatesh won the Fields Medal, but they are both at Princeton,” he added, answering a question from BW Businessworld during an event recently.
“I prefer to remain humble and not claim we have any special affinity for science. I haven’t seen strong evidence of that. However, we should be enthusiastic. We should recognise that we have a long way to go and work very hard” – Infosys Founder N R Narayanamurthy
Earlier this year, famed investor Mohandas Pai also called for increased investment in research and development (R&D) to drive innovation in India. “We need money. Money (in India) is in short supply. We invest 0.7 per cent of GDP in R&D. We must take it up to over 1 per cent. We get only USD 12-13 billion for our startups, we need up to USD 40-50 billion,” said Pai in June.
Speaking with BW Businessworld on the sidelines of Nasscom Design and Engineering Summit, Quest Global’s Suraj Rangashayi said that while the reasons behind why people in India pursue STEM education (like parental or societal pressures) may not be important, the outcome is significant. “India produces a lot of highly skilled individuals who are making a global impact. However, the problem lies in how this talent is utilised in India. Currently, the focus is primarily on providing services and making small, incremental improvements rather than engaging in long-term, disruptive innovation,” he said.
He added that the lack of an enabling ecosystem—due to limited funding, bureaucratic hurdles, and insufficient support, highlighted famously by BITS Pilani’s V. Ramgopal Rao—prevents these talented individuals from achieving groundbreaking results in India. He argued that if the same talent were given the right resources and environment, they could produce exceptional outcomes, just as they do when working in other countries with better infrastructure and support for innovation. The core point is that India has the talent, but it needs the right ecosystem to unlock its full potential for innovation.
Focusing on the aerospace sector, Savyasachi Srinivas, VP at Collins Aerospace shared that there is a growing demand for more people in STEM, which is a global challenge. Companies are actively making efforts to engage students, especially in rural areas, by showing them real career possibilities. Collins Aerospace, he said, has been successful in recruiting some students who were exposed to their offices and work environments years ago.
However, Srinivas stressed upon an important issue in India: the quality of STEM education. While many students complete engineering degrees, the quality of education and employability varies greatly depending on the institution. Outside of premiere institutions like IITs and IISc, there is a lack of research-focused academic environments. He sees India's weak R&D ecosystem, both in terms of investment and the number of people involved in core research, as a major gap. Many people do not see research as a viable opportunity, and Srinivas said industry needs to do a better job of connecting the dots to show how deep research, like pursuing a PhD, can lead to real opportunities.
“While India's STEM talent is predominantly attracted to the IT sector—a revolution that transformed the country—there’s a noticeable lack of focus on core engineering disciplines,” said Siva Polimetla, Head of ER&D at Nasscom. He pointed out that building a long-term career in fields like aerospace engineering requires a deeper commitment, but the passion for core engineering is often missing.
“Many STEM graduates are gravitating towards peripheral IT work, like AI and IoT, which can be managed by even entry-level engineers, he added, mentioning that this shift detracts from more critical, foundational work in core engineering and research. Polimetla also said that the research mindset in academia needs to be significantly strengthened. While India produces a large volume of engineers, there’s a distinct gap in fostering science-oriented education and driving meaningful research.
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