The Government has decided to enhance the spending on Research and Development (R&D) as percentage of GDP to 2% by the end of XII plan period from the current level of about 0.9%, the Minister of State for Planning, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Ashwani Kumar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today .
The Minister further said that according to the UNESCO Science Report 2010, the expenditure on R&D as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in India is about 0.9%. Public expenditure on R&D as percentage of GDP in most countries is in the range of 0.7 – 1.0 % which is similar to the public investment in India. However, the private investment on R&D as percentage of DGP in India is 0.23 % which has not kept pace with the developed countries including China where it is 1.05%.