India needs to encourage technical know-how

WHO/TDR/Crump

India should offer attractive terms to foreign companies outsourcing their research and development (R&D) to the subcontinent, says an editorial in The Times of India.

An Indian think tank — chaired by the government's principal scientific advisor — has recommended stricter regulations on foreign R&D enterprises because of unspecified security threats.

But such R&D generates local jobs, wealth and technical know-how — all of which could increase India's global competitiveness and help create a culture of innovation.

The Indian government should put aside its baseless anxieties about security, urges the editorial, and encourage incoming global R&D. 

It should play on India's unique ability to provide a highly skilled, English-speaking workforce with strong connections to the diaspora at a much lower cost than that in developed countries.