CPSEs' research expenditure increases 25.6% to ₹9,691 crore in FY25

Defence production led R&D expenditure by central public sector enterprises in FY25, followed by petroleum and heavy engineering, as overall spending rose sharply year-on-year

The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) expenditure in research and development (R&D) shot up by 25.62 per cent on-year in financial year 2024-25 (FY25) to ₹9,691 crore, with the defence sector bagging the lion’s share at 48 per cent of the ₹7,715 crore, according to the Public Enterprises Survey.

 

In FY24, the R&D investment by the government-run companies was ₹7,715 crore.

 

In FY25, petroleum (refinery and marketing) sector firms came in second with total spend on R&D at ₹1,492 crore followed by the heavy and medium engineering cognate group, which invested ₹750 crore during the year.

 

Crude oil companies spent ₹627 crore on R&D in FY25, slightly below ₹628 crore in FY24. 

Transport and logistic services reported higher spending at ₹472 crore in FY25, against ₹335 crore in FY24. Power transmission expenditure on R&D rose significantly to ₹314 crore in FY25 from ₹220 crore in FY24. In other sectors, steel companies spent ₹245 crore on R&D in FY25 against ₹253 crore in FY24.

 

Amongst CPSEs, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) emerged as the largest spender on R&D in FY25, incurring an expenditure of ₹2,482 crore, accounting for 26 per cent of the total R&D spending.

 

Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) followed with an R&D outlay of ₹1,472 crore, contributing 15 per cent of the overall expenditure.

 

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. ranked third, spending ₹812 crore on R&D during the year, while Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) reported an expenditure of ₹662 crore. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) incurred ₹612 crore towards R&D activities, followed by NTPC Ltd. with ₹484 crore.

 

According to the government’s latest available R&D statistics, the total R&D expenditure measured in terms of gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) as a percentage of GDP was 0.66 per cent, 0.66 per cent and 0.64 per cent during 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively.

 

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh told Parliament in August 2025 that the gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) in the country has been consistently increasing over the years and has more than doubled from ₹60,196.75 crore in 2010-11 to ₹127,380.96 crore in 2020-21, while, during the same period, GDP has increased more than 2.5 times from ₹77,84,115 crore to ₹1,98,00,914 crore.

 

Therefore, India’s GERD as a percentage of GDP remained between 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent which is below global average and way lower than countries like China, South Korea and US.