Thursday, February 2, 2012

How relevant is R&D to SMEs?

The Indian market is developing at an accelerating rate and with rapid globalization, the contribution of technological potential is critical for any firm’s survival or growth. R&D is required to develop distinctive technological competencies and is vital to imbibe external technologies. Relying only on the strategy of reverse engineering and innovative cost-effective processes would simply be insufficient to support under the new technology policy regime.

While initiating an R&D project, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have to consider thoroughly whether the particular research is necessary for their business and if it would deliver the expected results. They also need to examine what is their exact purpose from the research which can dictate its methodology and also clarify the kind of partners required for the project. 

In SMEs, research helps in a number of ways including bringing innovation to existing products or developing new ones. It helps the company in accessing new customers and entering new export markets besides offering an unparalleled edge over the competition by increment in sales, turnover and growth in business. R & D also facilitates global collaboration leading to an intensification of international contacts between SMEs and other companies involved in the field. 


 Indian manufacturing firms of various sizes (small, medium or large) are often found to have a low incidence of in-house R & D and have very less budget allocation for the same. Some of the industries, such as chemicals & chemical products, electrical & optical equipment, drugs & pharmaceuticals and machinery & equipment control about 80 per cent of the entire SME R & D of the country (as per a research by Jaya Prakash Pradhan, SPIESR). Incidentally, these industries are also in the top four across the various SMEs, in India and worldwide in their share in the R &D sector.

Initiatives such as EU-INCOOP-Inter-institutional Cooperation in EU are gaining prominence by bringing together experts from key areas of computing technology from India and EU. This association is expected to boost the IT industry and benefit SMEs in gaining valuable data for entering new markets and also help in understanding details about market dynamics in a developed economy.

Many countries also offer tax relief to SMEs conducting R & D supporting the fact that creation of innovative, high-value-added products and services boosts profitability and growth of such companies and economy of that nation.

Indian SMEs are supported by schemes such as SIDBI’s Technology Development and Modernization Fund, ISO-9000 Reimbursement Scheme and Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for Technology Upgradation, among others. The government also supports SMEs through direct incentives for promoting in-house R & D activities. Any industrial unit which has received recognition from the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) is given tax deduction equivalent to the revenue and capital expenditure spent on R & D. 

With a variety of tax initiatives by the government and the global market knocking at our doors, SMEs are safe in opting for a bigger budget allocation for R & D activities which could substantially improve their businesses.

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