India lags far behind China, US in R&D, says report

India lags far behind in field of scientific research and development globally which is led by the United States, while China exhibited the most dramatic R&D spending growth pattern, an official American report has said. Worldwide R&D performance (measured as expenditures) totalled an estimated $1,435 billion in 2011, which is the latest global total available. The comparable figure for 2001 was $753 billion, which reflected a brisk, 6.7 per cent average annual growth over a decade, said the report released yesterday by the National Science Board. The American R&D increased to $407 billion in 2010 and to $424 billion in 2011. At just under 30 per cent of the global total in 2011, the United States remains, by far, the world's largest R&D performer. Nonetheless, with other countries also expanding their investments in R&D, the US share has declined since 2001, when it was 37 per cent, the report said. However, it is China which has continued to exhibit the most dramatic R&D growth pattern during this period. At $208 billion of R&D expenditures in 2011, China is the world's second-largest R&D performer.Read more ...