Why the answer to India's export and employment worries may lie in R&D

Even if 'China plus One' offers new labour-intensive opportunities, India's trading success may lie more in value-added exports, and spending on R&D and innovation will pave the way, writes T N Ninan

In his thoroughly engaging book (The Struggle and the Promise: Restoring India’s Potential), Naushad Forbes underlines the message that has been the focus of his monthly column in Business Standard: The importance of innovation, and research and development (R&D). Within that broader discussion, he looks specifically at how poorly India’s companies rank when it comes to R&D expenditure in relation to sales and to profits, and how much they now lag behind companies in other countries. This, despite India’s pattern of industrial development having started out as more technology- and skill-intensive than in the typical developing economy.

The book considers