M&M, Bosch top R&D spenders in Indian auto industries – Express Mobility News

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) boast the highest R&D intensity among Indian firms, with an R&D spend of 5.7%. Bosch follows as the second-best R&D-intensive company in the country, with a spend of 2.9%.

However, the R&D and innovation performance of Indian automobile and component firms significantly lags behind their global counterparts, according to a report by the Foundation for Advancing Science & Technology (FAST India). M&M led Indian firms with an R&D spend of $335 million, followed by Hero MotoCorp. Despite having the highest revenue in its cluster, Maruti Suzuki ranked in the lower half for R&D spending.

FAST is a nonprofit initiative co-founded by Ashish Dhawan (founder of Ashoka University and The Convergence Foundation) and Varun Aggarwal (co-founder of Aspiring Minds and The Change Engine).

Ferrari  has the highest global R&D intensity at 15.2%, far surpassing others. Globally, automotive firms exhibit three times higher R&D intensity compared to Indian firms. Ferrari also employs the highest number of PhDs as a proportion of its total workforce.

The report highlighted significant disparities in R&D intensity, PhD employee proportions, patent output, and publication rates between Indian automobile firms and their global peers. Among Indian companies, Hero and Eicher’s R&D spending was at 2.2%, while TVS, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, MRF, and Tube Investments spent below 2%.

Indian firms lag significantly in patent output, with global firms generating 30 times more patents per billion USD revenue. BYD led in patents per billion USD revenue. Among Indian firms, TVS Motors had the highest patent count and ranked first for patents per billion USD revenue among Indian firms, and second among all firms studied.

Globally, firms outperform Indian counterparts by a factor of three in the proportion of PhD employees. TVS Motors ranks third among all firms for the proportion of PhD employees. Many Indian low-revenue cluster firms have negligible or zero PhD-qualified employees.

In terms of publications, global firms produce twice as many publications per billion USD revenue as Indian firms. Ferrari leads with more than nine times the publications per billion USD revenue compared to Bosch, the second-ranked firm. TVS Motor and MRF rank fourth and fifth in publications per revenue among all firms. Bosch and TVS Motor perform well in this parameter among Indian low-revenue cluster firms.

To maintain and enhance its global position, the Indian automotive industry must address the gaps in patents and publications per revenue. “By fostering a culture of innovation and investing in intellectual property, Indian automobile firms can secure a competitive edge in the global market, FAST India report said.

Tata Motors and Samvardhana Motherson International were not considered for the study.