India ranks third among the most attractive investment destinations for technology transactions in the world. Modern India has had a strong focus on science and technology, realising that it is a key element for economic growth. India is among the top countries in the world in the field of scientific research, positioned as one of the top five nations in the field for space exploration. The country has regularly undertaken space missions, including missions to the moon and the famed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). India is likely to take a leading role in launching satellites for the SAARC nations, generating revenue by offering its space facilities for use to other countries.
By 2022, R&D expenditure is targeted to reach about 2% of the country’s GDP. The engineering R&D and product development market in India is forecast to post a CAGR of 12% to reach US$ 63 billion by 2025, from US$ 31 billion in 2019. As per the Economic Survey 2022, India’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP stood at 0.66%.
IT spending in India will grow 7% YoY to reach US$ 101.8 billion in 2022, compared to U$ 81.89 billion in 2021.
In FY21, the science and technology sector added 1,497,501 employees, becoming India’s top employment generator.
India's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy prepared by NITI Aayog outlined a way forward to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in different fields. Accenture offers a framework for assessing the economic effect of AI for selected G20 countries in its latest AI research studies and forecasts that AI will raise India's annual growth rate by 1.3% by 2035.
Some of the recent developments in the field of science and technology in India are as follows:
Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, is planning to invest over US$ 700 million in order to acquire and expand assets for its platform aimed at offering real estate to tenants in the life sciences and allied sectors in India.
In March 2022, Toyota launched its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car in India. The Indian Oil Corporation would be supplying hydrogen to power the car.
India's Top 5 IT firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Tech Mahindra) added more than 122,000 employees in in the first six months of FY22, nearly matching the 138,000 employees hired in the entirety of FY21.
In October 2021, Biz2Credit, a fintech company, announced plan to invest US$ 100 million in India over the next five years on research and development activities and expansions.
From 2014 to 2021, India recorded a 572% growth in patent approvals.
To accelerate digital innovation in India, NITI Aayog, Amazon Web Services and Intel have come together to develop a new experience studio to boost problem-solving and innovation between government stakeholders, start-ups, enterprises and industry experts. The new experience studio will use technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain and robotics to accelerate their use in the public sector.
TechnoPro, a Japanese tech firm, plans to hire 10,000 engineers and researchers in India by 2022-23.
Qualcomm plans to invest US$ 8.5 million on design initiatives in India, which would include funding its innovation labs at Hyderabad and Bangalore for R&D.