Technological Self-Reliance in Indian Industry

A constant lament about Indian industry, and the Indian economy in general, is the absence of successful R&D. Although the total stock of scientific and technical personnel rose from 1.88 lakh in 1950 to 17.82 lakh in 1980 and the expenditure on R&D rose from 0.17 per cent of GNP in 1958-59 to 0.89 per cent in 1990-91, “inadequate ‘development’ thrust is the basic limitation of Indian R&D”, according to Parimal Mandke, among others. She continues “There is a clear need to increase the ‘development’ type of research at every level of the national R&D system inclusive of industry both in the public and private sectors. The role of Indian industry in funding R&D is far from satisfactory when compared with that of its counterpart in developed countries. The growth of Indian industry, so far, has been without industry investing in its own R&D. The R&D system cannot gain strength unless there is a sizeable in-house R&D by the industry” [Journal of Indian School of Political Economy Vol. IV, No. 3, p. 440].