The Department of Science and Technology’s latest figures on India’s research profile record a milestone. In 2023-24, private industry accounted for 51.8% of national research spending — a first in India’s history — overtaking all tiers of government combined for the first time. Moreover, industry now employs more core researchers than government institutions. Transport firms are the largest corporate investors, followed by pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and information technology (IT). The break from the past is sharp. Through the 2010s, private industry contributed a little over a third of national R&D, and the ratio moved slowly. Then, between 2020-21 and 2021-22, private…