New Delhi — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday urged Indian companies to increase spending on research and development and focus on building innovative, resilient and globally competitive businesses.
Speaking at an event organized by the All India Management Association, Sitharaman said India’s next phase of growth should be driven by quality, with companies investing more in R&D either internally or through partnerships with academic institutions.
She said greater investment in research would help companies develop new products, improve existing ones and create more intellectual property in India.
“Our ambition must move from ‘Made in India’ to ‘Imagined in India’ products not only manufactured here, but conceived, designed, and technologically developed here, and then taken to markets across the world,” Sitharaman said.
India’s gross expenditure on R&D stands at 0.83% of GDP, compared with an OECD average of 2.7%, 2.6% in China and 3.5% in the United States, she said.
Sitharaman also pointed to the relatively small role of the private sector in Indian research spending. Domestic private companies account for about 36% of R&D expenditure, compared with more than 70% in several advanced economies.
She said Indian management would ultimately be judged by the quality of the businesses and institutions being created as the country works toward its Viksit Bharat 2047 development goals.
The finance minister also called for stronger management education, including short, practical courses for founders and early employees covering hiring, delegation, financial discipline, customer management, compliance and organizational systems.
She said family-owned businesses also need practical programs focused on succession planning, governance, professionalization, conflict management and delegation.
Sitharaman urged companies to broaden their focus beyond affluent urban consumers and develop products for working families across agriculture, rural construction, transportation and informal businesses.
“India’s consumption base rests on working families across agriculture, rural construction, transport, and informal enterprise. If corporate India pursues premiumisation for the urban tier alone, growth will lose its structural durability,” she said.
She also called on companies to strengthen corporate governance and work constructively with government agencies and regulators rather than immediately turning disagreements into legal disputes.
“Businesses must engage constructively with government and regulators. Legal recourse will always remain available, but every disagreement need not begin as litigation. There is considerable value in engaging early, placing evidence on the table, participating seriously in consultations and working towards solutions before differences become disputes,” Sitharaman said.
She added that companies should provide predictability and transparency and remain willing to listen, saying a mature economy should be capable of handling disagreements without immediately becoming adversarial. (Source: IANS)
