Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has told corporate India that private investment must now lead the country’s next phase of growth. Research and innovation, she said, is where companies must step up most. Speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi on October 3, Sitharaman said India spends just 0.83 per cent of GDP on research and development. The average across OECD economies is 2.7 per cent, more than three times India’s level. Private firms account for only about 36 per cent of India’s total R&D spending. In most large innovating economies, the private sector’s share is the reverse. She pointed to the Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation scheme as the government’s main lever for change. Her message is that the public sector has carried the capital spending cycle since the pandemic, and the baton must now pass to corporate India. Her slogan for the shift is moving from ‘Made in India’ to ‘Imagined and Made in India’. She also laid out priorities for resilient growth: diversifying partnerships, resource security, skilling for AI and frontier technologies, and stronger private investment. She cited Q1 FY27 GDP growth of 7.8 per cent and forex reserves of $766 billion.