6. India’s Performance in Science, Technology and Innovation: The Post 2000 Scenario

The chapter analyses the performance of the country’s investments in and output of innovation in terms of both conventional innovation indicators such as investments in R&D, trends in patents, trends in and structure of high technology exports, emergence and growth of technology-based start-ups. The period covered in the chapter is the post 2000 period which is characterized by the enunciation of a large number of policies that impact on the S&T performance of the country. These policies range from a new IPR policy to financing of R&D to a number of specific technology policies dealing with a variety major emerging technologies. Further, it maps out the inputs to S&T policy in terms of human resources development in science and engineering, financing of essentially R&D in industry and the policy support for the emergence of technology-based start-ups, etc. Finally, the chapter surveys the progress of the country with respect to adoption of new technologies such as Industry 4.0 basket of technologies, automation and its potential effects on manufacturing employment, the growth of domestic manufacturing in certain high technology industries such as cell phones, electric vehicles and the diffusion of a cashless economy in India.