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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Eternal India
encyclopedia
Expenditure in India on S&T activities
Central R&D
Expenditure 1990-91
Year
(March end)
S&T expenditure
Rs. in crores
As % of GNP
1950-51
4.68
0.02
1965-66
85.06
0.39
1970-71
173.37
0.47
1986-87
2495.87
0.96
1987-88
2936.94
1.00
1988-89
3471.81
1.00
1989-90
4003.79
-
Expenditure in India on R&D
Year
R&D expenditure
Rs. in crores
As % of GNP
1950-51
4.68
-
1965-66
68.39
0.29
1970-71
139.64
0.35
1987-88
2853.07
0.98
1988-89
3347.26
0.96
1989-90
3725.74
0.94
1990-91
4186.43
0.89
India’s per capita R&D expenditure was a mere US 2.76
dollars whereas this was between US 100 dollars and US 600
dollars for most of the developed countries. R&D expenditure as
percentage of GNP in 1990-91 has declined to 0.89% from a level of
0.94% in 1989-90,. 0.96% in 1988-89,0.98% in 1987-88 and 0.95%
in 1986-87, although in absolute terms R&D expenditure has
shown an increasing trend. The annual rate of growth of GNP at
current prices for the period 1988-89 to 1990-91 was 15.8%
whereas the growth rate of R&D expenditure at current prices was
11.8% for the same period. This indicates that GNP was increasing
faster than R&D expenditure. GNP data was revised upwards for
all the previous years up to 1990-91 by the Central Statistical Or-
ganisation which was adopted by the Economic Survey 1991-92.
Besides, the financial crunch the economy was experiencing might
have affected the deployment of financial resources by different
sectors to R&D activities.
In India the major share of R&D expenditure is borne by the
Central Government. The private sector bears only a small propor-
tion of the burden. In developed countries such as the US, West
Germany and Japan the Government share of R&D expenditure
was 48%, 44% and 28%, respectively. The rest came from private
industry.
Percentage Share in R&D Expenditure
by Government & Industry
Year
March end
Central Govt. Share
(including Public
Sector industry)
State
Govt.
Share
Private
Sector
Share
1951
100.0
Nil
Nil
1971
84.3
7.3
8.4
1981
75.8
9.3
14.9
1987
79.9
9.0
11.3
1988
79.7
8.8
11.5
1991
79.5 (10.6)
7.9
12.6
Agency
(Rs.in
crores)
%
Share
Defence Research & Development
Organisation (DRDO)
685
27.5
Dept, of Space (DOS)
386.22
15.5
Indian Council of Agricultural
Research ( ICAR)
327
13.1
Dept, of Atomic Energy (DAE)
281.17
11.3
Council of Scientific & Industrial
Research (CSIR)
250.0
10.0
Dept, of Environment (DOEN)
202.94
8.1
Dept, of Science & Technology (DST)
181.13
7.3
Dept, of Biotechnology (DBT)
47.55
1.9
Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR)
43.71
1.7
Dept, of Non-Conventional
Energy Sources (DNES)
32.26
1.3
Dept, of Ocean Development (DOD)
31.94
1.3
Dept, of Electronics (DOE)
24.16
1.0
Total
Other Central Ministries
2493.09
835.03
Nearly a third of the R&D expenditure is accounted for by the
DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) while
a sum of Rs. 250 crores is spread over the 40-odd laboratories of
the CSIR. The R&D expenditure of the Indian Institute of Science
and the IITs is part of the expenditure which comes under "Other
Central Ministries". For 1990-91 this was about Rs. 51 crores
which is about 1/13th of the DRDO, l/8th of the DOS and l/6th of
the DAE.
The State Government sector spent Rs. 332.10 crores on R&D
during 1990-91. About 90% of the R&D expenditure by this sector
was on the development of agriculture and allied areas. Rs. 970.29
crs. (Rs. 444.07 crs. by public sector, both Central and State, and
Rs. 526.22 crs by private sector) was spent on R&D by the indus-
trial sector in 1990-91. The number of units involved was 1009 in
the private sector and 155 in the public/joint sector. The share of
industrial sector R&D (both public & private sector) in total na-
tional R&D was 23% in 1990-91. The industrial sector spent
0.66% of sales turnover on R&D in 1990-91.
For private and public sector separately this figure was 0.74%
and 0.58% respectively.
National R&D expenditure by objectives 1990-91
Development of agriculture, forestry
and fishing
19.3%
Defence
19.1%
Promotion of Industrial Development
16.5%
General advancement of knowledge
11.1%
Space
9.3%
Development of transport & communication
5.7%
Production, conservation & distribution
of energy
4.6%
Development of Health services
4.5%
Protection of the Environment
4.4%
1986-87
2435.40
0.95