The recently announced Union Budget 2023-24 has outlined an ambitious vision for India’s future: an economy driven by technology and knowledge. This vision has been driven by the fact that a country’s economic growth is linked directly to its investment in research and development (R&D).
India has come a long way in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from the 81st spot in 2015 to the 40th spot in 2022. As per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India’s strengths lie in the graduates from science and engineering and global corporate research and development.
Although India only has around 250 scientists per million of the population, it still ranks highly in the number of research papers published and patent filings, as compared to some of its counterparts.
However, despite the country’s strengths and the ability of investment in R&D to transform industries and lead economic growth, the country’s overall R&D expenditure continues to be low. Let us take a look at the Amrit Kaal budget and how it has allocated funding for R&D across sectors. We analyse whether this is enough to foster innovation and development in the country