India's S&T indicators 2019-20: what it reveals and what remains hidden

Abstract

Department of Science and Technology, India recently released the S&T indicators for the year 2019-20 which once again reveals the stagnation of India's gross expenditure in R&D at 0.7 percent of the GDP. The R&D trends such as contribution by private sector and higher education sectors in R&D shows a continuous rise in absolute figures although their share in total R&D remains the same as previous years. The output indicators such as patents and publications have also shown an increasing trend, but India still lags behind the advanced and innovative nations. These indicators however do not divulge the true picture of innovations in India as they are focused towards capturing formal sector innovations. Indian economy is dominated by the informal sector and the innovative activities within this sector could not be represented through these conventional metrics.