- India must accelerate its transition from a technology-dependent consumer to a technology creator.
- India’s R&D spending hovers around 0.7% of GDP, far below the US (~3.2%), China (~2.4%), or Israel (~5%).
- India must now have institutions like DARPA lead our national strategic tech in quantum secure communication, AI for defence, chip design, bio-robotics, etc.
- Without deep systemic reform, India risks becoming a user—not a maker—of technologies that define the future world order.
India stands at a pivotal point in its journey to becoming a global technology powerhouse, amid the cloud of geopolitical rivalries, sudden shifts in global value chains, and emerging technologies that have the power to redefine state power. Therefore, India must now accelerate its transition from a technology-dependent consumer to a technology creator. Also, some radical decisions towards the development and expansion of Strategic and Sunrise sectors—such as quantum computing, space tech, AI, cyber security, green hydrogen, semiconductors, and next-gen defence systems can no longer be an optional ambition but a necessity.
They are simply the core to India’s future economic stability, sovereignty, national security, and global relevance in a world that one simply does not know whom to rely upon because India badly needs to become an innovator.
The idea for this article is an outcome of a discussion that took place in a live podcast released on the Gunners Shot Channel, hosted by retired Indian Army Lt Gen PR. Shankar, who was the former Director General of Artillery. Together with Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan and Lt Gen Harimohan Iyer, these retired military officers delved deep into strategies for expanding research, development, and innovation within our strategic industries and the challenges and opportunities when it comes to scaling up R&D and innovation in strategic and sunrise sectors in India.
This was an important discussion against a backdrop of growing international competition, rising geopolitical tensions, and rapidly evolving technologies amid the tall shadow of our bureaucracy, a relic and inheritance from British colonialism, as we strive towards innovation.
Strategic and Sunrise Domains: Why They Matter?
Strategic and sunrise sectors refer to high-impact, high-technology areas that are either critical to a nation’s sovereignty or have exponential growth potential soon. The decision by India’s Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to give funds worth Rs. One lakh Crore for research and innovation ecosystem is a step in the right direction, so we can be leaders in Research Development and Innovation (RDI)[1].
Strategic Domains
Defence Technology such as missile systems, cyber warfare, and fighter jets, along with commercial and strategic dominance in near space. Also, on the list are Semiconductors that power everything—from fighter jets to smartphones. Breakthroughs in Quantum Technology will offer India advanced computing, cryptography, and sensing.
Sunrise Domains
AI-driven automation, predictive analytics, military Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). Green Energy (Hydrogen, EVs, Solar) which allows energy security and but more importantly, climate leadership. Biotech and Genomics, along with Nanotech, superconductors, and composite materials for strategic autonomy, are now a growing part of the sunrise domains.
Bottlenecks in India’s RDI Ecosystem
India’s R&D spending hovers around 0.7% of GDP, far below the US (~3.2%), China (~2.4%), or Israel (~5%). More critically, even this limited investment is poorly utilised due to institutional silos, legacy systems, and cumbersome approvals. Project proposals often take months or years to move through committees.
Startups and private sector R&D entities still face bureaucratic indifference. Departments operate in isolation, with little coordination or goal alignment. Though progress has been made in the last ten years, Indian universities and DRDO labs often fail to translate research into commercial or defence-grade technologies due to a lack of market linkages.
Bright minds move abroad due to limited domestic opportunities and slow-moving bureaucracies. In academia, there is a lack of multidisciplinary and agile project environments that are frustrating mid-career scientists. But the most profound bottlenecisre the control exerted by ministries, which has undermined institutional autonomy and risk-taking. The fact is that risk is culturally viewed negatively in India, whereas in the West, risk and failure are viewed as one step closer to finding the solution.
The Imperative for Scaling RDI
India’s demographic dividend, digital capacity, and geopolitical necessity align perfectly for a major innovation push as China’s aggressively pushed itself in quantum, AI, and 6G tech in not just commercial, but also its military. India must match this with equal urgency. Technologies like semiconductors and AI create high-value industries and act as a multiplier effect. India’s growing ambitions in manufacturing hinge on these lines, as questions have been raised on the sustainability and profitability of the current structure of the IT service industry in India amid machine learning and AI.
Building India’s Innovation Arsenal
India is badly in need of institutions like the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA USA), ARPA-E (Energy), and Horizon Europe[2]. We must also now have institutions like DARPA lead our national strategic tech in quantum secure communication, AI for defence, chip design, bio-robotics, etc. But if it has to succeed, it must be given full freedom from bureaucratic and political interference. The time has come to abolish redundant NOCs, multiple committee reviews, and post-audit harassment. Replace the “inspect and punish” model with the “audit and mentor” Appoint Chief Innovation Officers across ministries who report directly to the PMO/NSA.
India’s unicorns and tech giants must be made part of national strategic innovation networks under the umbrella of national security. We can have a National Defence Tech Consortium involving DRDO and the private sector. After operation Sindoor, there was a call to build a consortium to develop fifth fifth-generation fighter, and if such a decision is fructified, it will only accelerate the AMCA program.
Talent Pipelines and Academic Reforms
We need more efficient integration of IITs, IISc, and National Labs to hire Indian scientists who are working abroad with high remuneration at par with the private sector. Also, allow Research Sabbaticals for Bureaucrats and Military Officers in tech labs.
We need a National Innovation Investment Fund backed by Venture Capitalists for sunrise tech. The unimpeachable truth is that private capital is efficient and can take more risks, and they are not into just safe bets. Private companies view failure not as shame but one step closer to success and profit is a good word.
We learn more from an advisor than a friend.
China, from the beginning, has integrated its military and civilian R&D seamlessly, mobilising private firms like Huawei for national goals. Over the years, China has spent over $250B on R&D annually, leading in 37/44 critical technologies per ASPI[3]. In Israel, the Yozma Model[4] is all about government-seeded venture capital fund, which has enabled massive tech startup growth in defence, Agri-Tech, and Cyber. India must adapt such models with zero interference.
Conclusion
More than two thousand years ago, the famous Indian philosopher Chanakya said (paraphrased), “knowledge is only useful when internalised and applied, not just stored in books. Similarly, wealth is only meaningful when one has control over it and also understands where to invest it.” The time has come for India to apply knowledge and, at the same time, invest money in it.
India’s future will be determined not just by how it responds to current challenges, but by how boldly it shapes the technologies of tomorrow. Scaling up RDI in strategic and sunrise domains is not just a necessity, but it must be declared a National Imperative. However, the only threat we as a nation suffer from is our tendency to be afflicted by transient blindness when it comes to policy implementation, leading to ignoring competitive threats, neglecting internal weaknesses and overlooking external factors.
Despite India enjoying a demography dividend with a growing pool of talent, a vibrant start-up ecosystem, and political will, India’s research, development, and innovation (RDI) ecosystem is not what one would aspire and it remains fragmented and under-leveraged. We are still faced with challenges when it comes to scaling because somewhere the decisions that are required for deep structural reforms, mission-mode programs, and above all, reduction in bureaucratic red tape are facing resistance.
This demands tearing down bureaucratic silos, investing with boldness, fostering public-private symbiosis, and empowering innovators with speed and trust. Without deep systemic reform, India risks becoming a user—not a maker—of technologies that define the future world order.
References:
- [1] https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/cabinet-approves-research-development-and-innovation-rdi-scheme-to-scale-up-research-development-and-innovation-in-strategic-and-sunrise-domains/
- [2] : https://www.darpa.mil
- [3] : https://techtracker.aspi.org.au
- [4] https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/programs/yozma-fund/#goal_route
- Department of Science & Technology, GoI. “Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (Draft).”
- Ghosh, Shibashis. Strategic Technology and India’s Future. ORF Occasional Paper.
- Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, ORF. “India’s Space-Tech and Defence-Tech Race with China.”
- Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog Reports.
- Economic Times & LiveMint articles on DRDO, iDEX, and semiconductor policies.
- Ram Madhav (2023). The New World: India in the 21st Century Global Order.
Balaji is a freelance writer with an MA in History and Political science and has published articles on defence and strategic affairs and book reviews. He tweets @LaxmanShriram78. Views expressed are the author’s own.
Raghvendra Tripathi 
Piyush Anand 
Divyanka Tandon