India Inc spent more on R&D in FY19, auto and pharma leading sectors

The health care sector has been amongst the biggest spenders on R&D traditionally

Research and development (R&D) spending by India Inc increased in 2018-19 (FY19) over the previous years (led by automobile and pharmaceutical sectors). But, it was still a small percentage of the total sales. In FY19, India Inc spent Rs 8,721.3 crore under the R&D head — nearly a fifth more than the amount in 2017-18 (FY18), which was Rs 7,098.5 crore.

The details of these expenses are available in the annual reports of companies, usually published by the end of the second quarter of the next financial year. This analysis looked at 440 companies for whom the continuous data is available