India's innovation problem does not end with how little its companies spend. It ends with who owns what its researchers create. Much of the current debate asks whether India spends enough on research. An equally important question is whether research performed in India accumulates as an Indian asset.
Research is an activity. IP is an asset. Countries compete not only in performing the first but also in owning the second. The country's largest research ecosystem offers an answer. GCCs, the units MNCs establish in India to carry out their research, engineering and operations, number 2,117, employ 2.36 mn professionals, and generate $98.4 bn in revenue. The optimism rests on flows: captive exports of $164 bn in FY26; industry projections of value addition rising from $68 bn to $199 bn by FY30.
