Indian Economy, Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Services Updates

[G_B_]

I think 100% salaries need to triple for our engineers and scientists alongside benefits such as free, good-quality housing.

 

We are bleeding money on soldiers that are becoming obsolete. India can save 6 to 10 billion year by reducing forces to 600k. A scientist is worth 100 soldiers.

 

As an interim step I recommend ensuring IIT undergraduates work at DRDO HAL for 10 lakhs for 4 years ( make their fees 0.0). A lot of our doctors are made to work in rural areas as part of their training. The return India is getting from IIT atm is very. poor.
 

[Lone Wolf]

2 hours ago, G_B_ said:

I think 100% salaries need to triple for our engineers and scientists alongside benefits such as free, good-quality housing.

 

We are bleeding money on soldiers that are becoming obsolete. India can save 6 to 10 billion year by reducing forces to 600k. A scientist is worth 100 soldiers.

 

As an interim step I recommend ensuring IIT undergraduates work at DRDO HAL for 10 lakhs for 4 years ( make their fees 0.0). A lot of our doctors are made to work in rural areas as part of their training. The return India is getting from IIT atm is very. poor.
 

Sadly R&D budget of this country is like a sub Saharan country.  Similar condition in ISRO DRDO.. and reservation also kicks in.  Make in India is make belief khayali pulao 

 

GoI's priorities lie elsewhere sadly and opposition won't ever raise these issues.  Sab chor hai saale

 

 

Edited December 23, 2025 by Lone Wolf

[G_B_]

57 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Sadly R&D budget of this country is like a sub Saharan country.  Similar condition in ISRO DRDO.. and reservation also kicks in.  Make in India is make belief khayali pulao 

 

GoI's priorities lie elsewhere sadly and opposition won't ever raise these issues.  Sab chor hai saale

 

 

 

The opposition strongly opposed Agniveer, which is probably the biggest reform in the Indian armed forces, and aims to reduce the net wage bill. India is unique in that the median age of the armed forces is 32-33 and the median age of the pop as a whole is 29. Its fair to say this Modi gov is not 100% ideal for the Indian armed forces but its miles better than the opposition.

 

The key thing is where the potential savings of this scheme are going to be redirected in the years to come.

 

It would be ideal if we have a look at the DRDO and ISRO budgets through the years. I have an ISRO budget I pulled out from Reddit.

 

I can definately see a spike in spending post 2014. Probably not enough to meet India's ideals in space. But an improvement.

 

[Lone Wolf]

9 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

 

The opposition strongly opposed Agniveer, which is probably the biggest reform in the Indian armed forces, and aims to reduce the net wage bill. India is unique in that the median age of the armed forces is 32-33 and the median age of the pop as a whole is 29. Its fair to say this Modi gov is not 100% ideal for the Indian armed forces but its miles better than the opposition.

 

The key thing is where the potential savings of this scheme are going to be redirected.

 

It would be ideal if we have a look at the DRDO and ISRO budgets through the years. I have an ISRO budget I pulled out from Reddit.

 

 

 

Looks an old data that doesn't accounts for inflation and post COVID surge.

 

Apparently our R&D budget is peanuts compared to other countries.

This is quite recent but you will get the idea.. where we are lacking.

 

 

 

 

[G_B_]

@Lone Wolf

 

If this public and private? Or just gov?

 

I think you will see in the chart you have posted there is a strong correlation betweem gdp per capita ppp amd rnd spending.

[Lone Wolf]

39 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

@Lone Wolf

 

If this public and private? Or just gov?

 

I think you will see in the chart you have posted there is a strong correlation betweem gdp per capita ppp amd rnd spending.

World Bank is the source for News 18 India .. I double checked and it was genuine.

 

I knew it was lowest among major countries but wouldn't have imagined us lagging behind even Mexico 

[G_B_]

21 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

World Bank is the source for News 18 India .. I double checked and it was genuine.

 

I knew it was lowest among major countries but wouldn't have imagined us lagging behind even Mexico 

 

Its correlated to gdp per capita ppp.

 

Keep in mind the oced rnd is not only stem. Its also arts and culture + humanities.

[G_B_]

Ok dug into this

 

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS

 

This is the core source

 

My thoughts:

 

(a) India is 0.65% of GDP based on 2020 data and this chart is not really a fair comparison as you have some countries with 2004 and some with 2023. This suggests the data is simply not collected well enough. That is, there are question marks with the fidelity of the data for a cross-sectional comparison. News 18 are very sly not to report this.

 

(b) The lower middle-income RnD spending per capita is 0.54% per capita ppp. India seems to be very much in line with all of these at 0.65%.

 

(c) The figure for Mexico is 0.27% of GDP. This is much lower than India (0.65%)

 

(d) Countries such as Brazil have a higher GERD as a percentage of GDP. But their GDP is static. The Brazillian GDP in USD terms was higher in 2012 than 2023.

https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/brazil-gdp/. So India, with its rapidly growing GDP, the absolute RnD is growing much more rapidly than Brazil.

 

In summation, I think while India does need to increase its RnD its very much in line with global standards.

[Lone Wolf]

1 hour ago, G_B_ said:

 

In summation, I think while India does need to increase its RnD its very much in line with global standards.

A deeper dive within the data suggests otherwise.  It's the private entities which are not contributing at all even if public institutions are sh**ting the bed.

We are actually going nowhere.

Unless private sector too gets its hands dirty.

 

No wonder top talent is fleeing India in droves.  Opportunity is simply neither in public or private sector.

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2025 by Lone Wolf

[G_B_]

From your chart, all the countries have 4-5 times (on average) the GDP Per Capita PPP. How exactly have you drawn that inference?

 

India is a low-cost business mass market environment, very hard for businesses to innovate when the market may not exist.

 

What is the breakdown of countries like Vietnam's GDP Per Capita PPP (17k) (India 12k). For Vietnam the 2021 figure for RnD to GDP is 0.42% (less than India)

 

 

 

 

[singhvivek141]

11 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

A deeper dive within the data suggests otherwise.  It's the private entities which are not contributing at all even if public institutions are sh**ting the bed.

We are actually going nowhere.

Unless private sector too gets its hands dirty.

 

No wonder top talent is fleeing India in droves.  Opportunity is simply neither in public or private sector.

 

 

 

Pvt sector wasnt even open for defence. Only recently we are seeing change.

There are several new pvt entities coming up, specially for drone warfare (surveillance and Kamikaze) and EW jamming suites. One Hyd/Blr based firm even created a loyal wingman drone in record time which HAL took ages to build.

 

I am seeing lot of openings on LinkedIn for defence sector entities. Recruitment is slow coz our youth is obsessed with software jobs and will take some time to pivot.

 

Something like fighter jet is still a big challenge for pvt entities though, coz it requires immense funding. Hopefully Adani, Tata, Mahindra, Godrej type business entities have entered the game and are creating key components for fighter jet. With time and success, they'll move ahead further.

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

29 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

Something like fighter jet is still a big challenge for pvt entities though, coz it requires immense funding. Hopefully Adani, Tata, Mahindra, Godrej type business entities have entered the game and are creating key components for fighter jet. With time and success, they'll move ahead further.

Reckon Vajpayee was the last guy to spend > 1% of gdp into R&D... It plummeted with due course.  It was 0.9% in 2008 and now its 0.65%

 

Adani has just entered the game. 

 

Mahindra used to be pioneers for R&D in Auto segment.  Tata advanced systems is other one but these are small scale level.

 

India has an unusual amount of small businesses, this is why you need mega comps to form. You need consolidation and mergers. You need to have global comps like Samsung or Apple. When a comp is that big then it's R&D budget will be increased.

 

Overall R&D ecosystem needs to be created first for even half decent results.

 

 

[Tillu]

As always this year's status of the major infra projects.

 

 

[G_B_]

12 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

Pvt sector wasnt even open for defence. Only recently we are seeing change.

There are several new pvt entities coming up, specially for drone warfare (surveillance and Kamikaze) and EW jamming suites. One Hyd/Blr based firm even created a loyal wingman drone in record time which HAL took ages to build.

 

I am seeing lot of openings on LinkedIn for defence sector entities. Recruitment is slow coz our youth is obsessed with software jobs and will take some time to pivot.

 

Something like fighter jet is still a big challenge for pvt entities though, coz it requires immense funding. Hopefully Adani, Tata, Mahindra, Godrej type business entities have entered the game and are creating key components for fighter jet. With time and success, they'll move ahead further.

 

 

 

In absolute terms, Indian RnD is growing at a fair clip.

[ravishingravi]

Honestly chasing R & D at $3000 per capita is pointless. Just need to go up the value chain at competitive cost. 

[G_B_]

1 hour ago, ravishingravi said:

Honestly chasing R & D at $3000 per capita is pointless. Just need to go up the value chain at competitive cost. 

Aim should be to rise up value chain and then innovate.

 

Now obviously defence is a different ball game in that we will bleed money on a necessity. So likes of drdo hal isro need to be financially backed.

 

 

 

[Tillu]

 

[G_B_]

Smart...very smart

[Tillu]

It's not mandatory and only if your employer allows you this flexibility.

 

 

[G_B_]

https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/bofa-lifts-india-2026-gdp-growth-forecast-to-76-on-consumption-4427953

 

Need some big bang reforms