India has been leapfrogging on innovation parameters in the last few years. The number of patents granted by India registered a sharp increase of 27 percent outpacing China, which has occupied a 21 percent share in growth pie. As per the data from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, 50 percent of all international patents were filed by Asian countries. This signifies the rise of Asia as an innovation hub, a domain which was traditionally dominated by Europe and North America. India and China were only middle-income countries to be ranked among the top 15 innovation hubs.
In India, highest numbers of patents were filed by Chennai based TVS Motor Company followed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited was ranked third in the list. It is noticeable that the innovation is led by private players and the public institutions and companies could not lead the innovation despite the enormous amount of funding from the government. This could be a good example of inefficiency of the public sector in bringing innovative solutions to daily life problems.
The innovation in India was led by pharmaceutical companies such as Dr. Reddys, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Lupin, among others. The pharmaceutical industry has grown exponentially in the last few years and comprises a major segment of Indian exports. The economic liberalization unleashed the innovation in many sectors including pharmaceutical, information technology, telecommunication. These sectors took the economic growth of the country near double-digit and expected to sustain it for long. The active support by Modi government to startups and young entrepreneurs in the last five years propelled the innovation.
In the Global Innovation Index, which ranks the countries on their ability to innovate, India moved up by 24 ranks. Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization jointly developed the Innovation Index to make nations aware of the importance of innovation. It surveyed 143 countries around the world and used 81 measures to gauge innovation capability of an economy. India was ranked at 81st position in 2013 while the country got ranked at 57th spot in 2018.
India’s ranking in Global Competitiveness Index, 2018 has also improved significantly due to good performance on the innovation front. India has got the 31st rank in the innovation capability index. The country achieved the 75th spot out of 140 countries in enabling business environment, 104th in human capital, 29th in markets component due to its sheer market size. The overall ranking of 58th was driven by good ecosystem on innovations front. In recent decades, India led the global markets with great innovations in Information Technology (IT), biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. On the IT front, Indians dominate the innovation ecosystem with the majority of top executives in Silicon Valley being Indians. The economic liberalization unleashed the potential of Indian entrepreneurs and now the country is leading the global economy with innovative business practices.
