Key Points

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Planning, shared that “India was ranked 81 in 2015, which has improved to 39 as of 2024”.

The GII rank attempts to measure a country’s performance by using data for more than 70 indicators, each of which represents different aspects of the socio-economic development of a country.

“The improvement in India’s rank in GII may be seen as an indirect measure of positive changes in the overall socio-economic environment of the country,” Singh said.

He added that some of changes include India’s recent strides in availability and affordability of applications and services in important sectors such as “space; renewable energy; defence, especially the indigenous development and production of defence equipment of various types; biotechnology sector, especially the indigenous development and production of vaccines and oxygen concentrators to combat the Covid 19 pandemic; online learning tools for affordable education; S&T clusters in different areas support structure for promoting innovation and startups”.

He also shared details on the funds spent by the government on science and technology-related research over the last five years.

“The amount spent over science and technology-related research in the country increased from over Rs 63,974 crore in 2016-17 to more than Rs 80,992 crore in 2020-21,” the MoS said, citing the latest R&D Statistics, 2022-23 brought out by the Department of Science and Technology.

“Further, during 2016-17, 2019-20 and 2022-23, India’s rank in the World level in R&D expenditure (in Billion PPP $) is at seventh position”, he added.

- IANS