India's R&D spending is up but least among all BRICS nations

As much as 81.3% of R&D expenditure incurred by central government sources came from just eight major scientific agencies

A national survey on the status of research and development in the country has shown that India’s gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) has more than tripled from Rs 2411.17 billion (Rs 24,117 crore) to Rs 853.26 (Rs 85,326 crore) in the decade from 2004-2005 to 2014-2015. It has also been estimated that it could have gone up to Rs 945.16 billion (Rs 94,516 crore) in 2015-2016 and crossed the Rs one trillion (Rs 1 lakh crore) mark in 2016-2017.

The survey, conducted by the National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has