China’s annual spending on analysis and growth (R&D), at roughly $496 billion, “dwarfs” India’s sub-$100 billion spend in 2024, with India’s method remaining subtle and yielding fewer business outcomes, a brand new dialogue paper by NITI Aayog mentioned.
The paper from India’s apex public coverage suppose tank confused on the “pressing must reimagine” the nation’s R&D technique, citing China’s success, which it attributed to “disciplined execution”, strategic focus, and sturdy linkages between {industry} and academia.
Written by Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog, and Sharad Sharma, founding father of iSPIRT, the paper identifies China’s strategic initiative “Made in China 2025” (MIC 2025) for essentially remodeling its place in world high-tech manufacturing.
NITI Aayog Launches a New Dialogue Paper on India’s R&D Future!!
To form India’s technological and financial future, we should transfer past mere planning to create a daring 10-year Imaginative and prescient backed by a strong execution technique and rigorous accountability.
NITI Aayog launches its…— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) April 7, 2025
China’s 10-year R&D push
The MIC 2025 initiative, a ten-year plan formulated in 2015, sought to develop China’s industrial R&D capabilities, with a give attention to strategic sectors together with electrical automobiles (EVs), renewable power, telecommunications, and quantum computing.
“The Chinese language authorities allotted over $300 billion initially for the MIC 2025 initiative, with a further $1.4 trillion invested post- COVID-19 to speed up progress. India’s method tends to be extra diffuse, with much less concentrated funding in particular industries,” the paper mentioned.
Sharing the paper on its X account, NITI Aayog posted, “To form India’s technological and financial future, we should transfer past mere planning to create a daring 10-year Imaginative and prescient backed by a strong execution technique and rigorous accountability.”
To hold out India’s R&D technique, it additionally proposed establishing a Nationwide Industrial Technique Activity Drive to “be certain that plans aren’t simply made, however realized”.
India’s R&D depth low, creates funding gaps
In comparison with China’s R&D depth at 2.68 per cent, indicating R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP, India’s determine hovers at round 0.7 per cent, which creates a funding hole and hinders its potential to innovate at scale, the paper mentioned.
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“The infrastructure supporting China’s R&D ecosystem is equally spectacular, with 40 devoted R&D facilities and nationwide laboratories established particularly to drive innovation throughout precedence industries. These analysis services function convergence factors the place educational experience, industrial know-how, and authorities priorities align to unravel complicated technological challenges,” it mentioned.
Whereas the paper famous establishments like IITs and Council of Scientific & Industrial Analysis (CSIR) laboratories in India, it mentioned “these usually perform with better independence and fewer industrial integration”.
“The Chinese language mannequin actively promotes information switch between analysis establishments and {industry} by way of formal mechanisms and incentives… India’s academic-industry hole stays wider, with fewer structured pathways for commercializing analysis,” the paper added.
China dominates world provide chains
Highlighting China’s world market share in key sectors like EVs, photo voltaic panels, and telecommunications gear, the paper mentioned “Indian corporations have achieved comparable dominance solely in choose legacy niches like generic prescription drugs and IT providers”.
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“China has considerably diminished dependency on overseas expertise in a number of sectors, with MIC 2025 focusing on 70% self-sufficiency in core applied sciences by 2025. India continues to closely import expertise in lots of high-value areas, notably in electronics, superior supplies, and precision manufacturing,” it added.
Different key insights from China’s R&D technique talked about within the paper included meticulous monitoring of progress by way of patenting, sustaining coverage continuity, and creating sturdy funding frameworks just like the MIC 2025.
“China’s patent portfolio has grown to 4.76 million legitimate home invention patents by the top of 2024, a 16.3% enhance from the earlier yr. India’s patent filings, whereas rising, stay at a fraction of China’s output,” the paper mentioned.
|
Parameter |
China |
India |
|
R&D % of GDP (2024) |
2.68% |
~0.7% |
|
Whole R&D Expenditure (2024) |
$496 billion |
<$100 billion |
|
Authorities vs. Personal R&D ratio |
More and more private-led |
Authorities-dominated |
|
Concentrate on utilized vs. primary analysis |
Sturdy emphasis on utilized analysis with business outcomes |
Better proportion on primary analysis with fewer business functions |
|
Industrial focus |
Centered on 10 strategic sectors |
Extra dispersed throughout a number of sectors |
Supply: NITI Aayog dialogue paper titled “Past Planning: India’s Pressing Want for a 10-12 months R&D Imaginative and prescient, Motion, and Accountability”