R&D activities in India have been booming: while the country only spent $2.9 billion on R&D in 2001, by 2004, this figure reached $24 billion. R&D spending is expected to reach $27.5 billion by 2010, and swell to $119 billion—2.7% of India’s estimated GDP—by 2020. There are currently 130 domestic firms and 220 multinational companies conducting advanced research in the country. In the pharmaceutical sector, a research partnership between Merck and Advinus Therapeutics, an Indian R&D firm supported by the Indian conglomerate Tata, will collaborate on early-stage drug development for the treatment of metabolic disorders.

Source: Financial Times