India witnessed a long journey since 2000 when its GDP at $468.39 billion started to rise phenomenally to almost five times, adding a whopping $2.62 trillion to the economy in 2020. Since contribution towards the economy could be traced back to three major sectors, namely; agrarian, manufacturing, and service, deducing that the growth in the sectors was apparent. However, the growth wasn’t proportionate, wherein the Service sector, for instance, paced forward, while manufacturing and agrarian sectors lagged. Since the scope for value addition in the agrarian sector was limited, the onus of boosting the economy further fell directly upon the manufacturing sector.

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Initiatives

With these statistics in mind, the Indian Government launched the “MAKE IN INDIA” initiative to enable an increase in the share of the country’s manufacturing sector in the Gross Domestic Product from 16% to 25% by 2022. The idea was to ensure that the sector endures a growth rate of 12-14% per annum over the medium term. To support this vision, funds were mustered from every possible source, which became evident when cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) infused in India’s manufacturing sector reached USD 81.72 billion in FY21 with a 10% increase year on year. In wake of such heavy investments, the assumptions that turbulence would soon become inevitable in the sector needed to be taken seriously.

According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum on “Global Competitive Index - 2020”, the Index places India at the 43^rd position, while Switzerland is placed at the top. Among the four indices used, India’s ranking in government efficiency increased to 46^thfrom 50^tha years ago, while its ranking in other parameters such as economic performance (37^th), business efficiency (32^nd), and infrastructure (49^th) remained the same.

Hence, a lot of policy-related measures are being given impetus in this regard, which includes improvisation of Intellectual Property (IP), protection measures, and their effective administration and computerized workflow along with digital manuals that are being made available to applicants, streamlining the process. However, it can be observed that the executive focus is highly customized with regards to the different kinds of IP rights, which broadens the scope for testing the potential of those regarded as the underdogs.

It is the prerogative of both the public and private sectors to create a more innovative environment. By creating such an innovative environment, will enhance more sustainable and cost-effective solutions for inclusive growth preferably in developing countries. In developing countries, there is more visibility towards a better collaboration of public and private sectors where both are coming together for creating a more innovative and effective solution. This is true from the fact that with the availability of financial capital and technological development, collaboration has undoubtedly increased. India is making significant progress in institutions and knowledge and technology outputs. The three key things that are going to help us adopt, implement and boost a culture of innovation are the right platform, public-private partnership, and building a skilled talent pool by promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education.

Way forward

With multiple initiatives on the plate, the fundamental point is to only get along with those initiatives and implement them at their best. These initiatives provide the right platform for Skill India and Digital India which has shown substantial growth in the manufacturing sector, thereby getting along with strong infrastructure. These all initiatives will help in the strong development of R&D which conclusively helps in the overall increase in innovation and its progress. Without R&D, economic and industrial progress will never see strong growth in terms of the overall development of the country. With growth gearing up and strongly moving forward after the pandemic, India is now towards the innovative highway.    

Author: Saransh Chaturvedi an associate at Global Patent Filing,  in case of any queries please contact/write back us at support@globalpatentfiling.com.