Consider the following statements about innovation and research and development in India: 1. India's rank in Global Innovation Index reported by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has improved significantly between 2015 and 2024. 2. Funding of research and development is sourced primarily from private sector entities and is sectorally concentrated in pharmaceuticals and information technology. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Q: What is the answer to CDS (II) 2025 GK Q74?

A. Correct — A, 1 only. Statement 1 is the Economic Survey's own sentence. India stood 81st in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 and 39th in 2024 among 133 economies, first among the thirty-eight lower middle-income economies and first among the ten in Central and Southern Asia, and the climb over those nine years has been almost unbroken — 46th in 2021, 40th in 2023, and 39th in 2024. That is exactly the significant improvement between 2015 and 2024 the statement claims. Statement 2 inverts the record. India's gross expenditure on research and development rose from about sixty thousand crore rupees in 2010-11 to about one lakh twenty-seven thousand crore in 2020-21, but that is only 0.64 per cent of gross domestic product, and the Survey's finding is that the funding is predominantly sourced from government entities, with the private sector's contribution the acknowledged gap. The comparison the Survey draws is the point of the item: in most developed and emerging economies business enterprises put in more than half of gross expenditure on research and development, and in China, Japan, South Korea and the United States more than seventy per cent, whereas in India the state carries the larger share. Since statement 2 asserts the reverse, only the first statement stands. (Provisional — pending the official UPSC key.)

(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — A, 1 only. Statement 1 is the Economic Survey's own sentence. India stood 81st in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 and 39th in 2024 among 133 economies, first among the thirty-eight lower middle-income economies and first among the ten in Central and Southern Asia, and the climb over those nine years has been almost unbroken — 46th in 2021, 40th in 2023, and 39th in 2024. That is exactly the significant improvement between 2015 and 2024 the statement claims. Statement 2 inverts the record. India's gross expenditure on research and development rose from about sixty thousand crore rupees in 2010-11 to about one lakh twenty-seven thousand crore in 2020-21, but that is only 0.64 per cent of gross domestic product, and the Survey's finding is that the funding is predominantly sourced from government entities, with the private sector's contribution the acknowledged gap. The comparison the Survey draws is the point of the item: in most developed and emerging economies business enterprises put in more than half of gross expenditure on research and development, and in China, Japan, South Korea and the United States more than seventy per cent, whereas in India the state carries the larger share. Since statement 2 asserts the reverse, only the first statement stands.

Why the others are wrong

(b)2 only — Keeps the false statement and drops the true one. Private funding is not the primary source of research and development spending in India — that is the Economic Survey's central complaint about the country's innovation system.
(c)Both 1 and 2 — The tempting pick, because the second statement sounds plausible: pharmaceuticals and information technology are indeed where private research is concentrated. But the claim that private entities are the primary source of funding overall is what fails.
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Denies a rise from 81st to 39th over nine years, which the Survey singles out as one of the milestones of India's innovation landscape.

Concept

The Global Innovation Index is published annually by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations with headquarters at Geneva; it was produced with Cornell University and INSEAD until 2021. It scores economies on innovation inputs such as institutions, human capital, infrastructure and market and business sophistication, and on outputs such as knowledge, technology and creative goods. Gross expenditure on research and development, or GERD, is the standard measure of how much an economy spends on research, and it is normally reported both as a share of gross domestic product and by who pays for it.

The item is a two-statement pair drawn from one chapter of the Economic Survey, with the first quoted and the second reversed — a construction the paper uses more than once. The route through it is to remember which side of the innovation story India is usually praised for and which it is usually criticised for. The praise is for the ranking, the patent filings and the start-up ecosystem; the criticism is for the low research spending as a share of output and for the state having to carry most of it. Anything that credits Indian private business with primary responsibility for funding research should be treated with suspicion. A dating note for the student: the Survey's ranking figure is for 2024, and India was placed 38th in the Global Innovation Index 2025, so the trend named in the statement has continued past the exam.

Key facts

India's Global Innovation Index rank moved from 81st in 2015 to 46th in 2021, 40th in 2023 and 39th in 2024 among 133 economies.
Economic Survey 2024-25: gross expenditure on research and development rose from about Rs 60,196 crore in 2010-11 to about Rs 1,27,381 crore in 2020-21, which is 0.64 per cent of gross domestic product.
The Survey states plainly that the funding for research and development in India is predominantly sourced from government entities.
In most developed and emerging economies business enterprises contribute over 50 per cent of gross research expenditure, and in China, Japan, South Korea and the USA over 70 per cent.
India was placed first among lower middle-income economies and first in Central and Southern Asia in the 2024 index, and holds fourth position in WIPO's science and technology cluster ranking.

The two halves of India's innovation record, as the Economic Survey states them

Statement 1 — the ranking→81st in 2015 to 39th in 2024 among 133 economies, first among lower middle-income economies. Holds.

Statement 2 — who pays for research→The Survey says funding is predominantly sourced from government entities and that more private contribution is needed. Fails.

How much is spent→Rs 60,196 crore in FY11 to Rs 1,27,381 crore in FY21 — but still only 0.64 per cent of gross domestic product.

How other economies do it→Business enterprises contribute over half of gross research spending in most developed and emerging economies, and over 70 per cent in China, Japan, South Korea and the USA.

India's rank has risen sharply; the composition of its research funding has not changed with it.

Study next

The Global Innovation Index — who publishes it, what it measures, and India's rank over timeGross expenditure on research and development, and how it is split between government, business, higher education and the non-profit sectorThe Anusandhan National Research Foundation and the Research, Development and Innovation schemeIndia's patent filings, the rise in resident filings, and the working of the Patents ActWIPO's place in the United Nations system and its relationship with the TRIPS Agreement

Common traps

Assuming that a sharply improving innovation ranking must mean private research spending has taken over; the Survey argues the opposite.
Confusing research spending in absolute rupees, which has more than doubled, with research spending as a share of output, which remains under one per cent.
Placing the Global Innovation Index with the World Economic Forum or the World Bank; it is WIPO's.

As a two-statement item mixing a ranking with a structural claim, as a which-organisation-publishes-it question, or as a numerical item on India's rank in a given year.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2002_GS1_Q222002Open & attempt →

Consider the following statements: 1. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is a specialised agency of United Nations System of Organisations 2. WIPO has its headquarters at Rome 3. The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement is binding on all WTO members 4. Least-developed country members of WTO are not required to apply the provisions of TRIPS Agreement for a period of 20 years Which of these statements are correct?

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 4
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 1 and 3

Answer(d) 1 and 3

The body that publishes the index in this question. Knowing that WIPO is a United Nations specialised agency based at Geneva, and what it does about intellectual property, is what places the Global Innovation Index correctly.

CDS_GK_2024_I_Q1192024Open & attempt →

Which of the following statements about India's rank in the Global Innovation Index-2023, published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, is/are correct? 1. India has been placed at 40th rank. 2. India has been on a rising trajectory over the period 2015-2023. Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer(c) Both 1 and 2

The same index asked a year earlier with the same rising trajectory since 2015 — 40th in 2023, 39th in 2024. CDS returns to this series often enough that the rank sequence is worth memorising.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Global Innovation Index is published by which one of the following?
- (a)World Economic Forum
- (b)World Intellectual Property Organization
- (c)United Nations Development Programme
- (d)Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Answer(b) World Intellectual Property Organization — a specialised agency of the United Nations, headquartered at Geneva, which produced the index with Cornell and INSEAD until 2021.
practice — not a real PYQ
According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, India's gross expenditure on research and development is approximately what share of its gross domestic product?
- (a)0.64 per cent
- (b)1.5 per cent
- (c)2.1 per cent
- (d)3.4 per cent
Answer(a) 0.64 per cent — about Rs 1,27,381 crore in FY21, which the Survey calls insufficient compared with countries that have forged ahead in research.