According to Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, India's research and development (R&D) investment must be tripled to 3% of its GDP from 0.7% currently. He stated during a keynote talk at the Pan IIT World of Technology (PIWOT) event in Bengaluru that the private sector should contribute 1.5 percent of total R&D investment.
From Rs 60,000 crore in 2010-11, India increased its R&D investment to approximately Rs 127,380 crore in 2020-21. However, as a percentage of GDP, spending is only 0.7%, according to Gopalakrishnan. In 2022, the number of patent applications in India increased by 31.6 percent, making it one of the fastest growing in the world.
According to Gopalakrishnan, India has experienced an increase of global capability centers (GCCs) in recent years. Several GCCs in the country are transitioning into R&D centers. Furthermore, several global corporations have their second or third largest research and development centers in India.
Gopalakrishnan also emphasized the importance of educational institutions introducing courses in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, noting that India has one of the world's largest talent pools in information technology (IT) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
"The IT services industry must continue to grow because it creates jobs and brings foreign exchange into the country." We must expand the product space, which currently provides roughly $13-$14 billion, to $30 billion...We should also look at IT research so that we can look at the next generation of AI, technologies that will be important to the industry in ten years. "We should start working on those things now, in collaboration with research institutions," Gopalakrishnan added.
He stated that India has a significant role to play in the global ecosystem because it is home to over 20% of the world's population. The entire world is looking to India to hire from its skill pool. "Industry involvement in research and funding is a two-way street," Gopalakrishnan said, adding that India must establish defined goals in academic and fundamental research and apply AI in R&D.
