India's Economic Development: The Role of Institutionalized Technology Transfer

Abstract

This paper discusses India's institutionalized technology transfer (TT) policies and practices and examines their impact on economic development. The paper is organized chronologically. The pre-independence era is sub-organized into: early history and British colonial period. The post-independence era is sub-organized into four 15-year periods: 1951-65, 1966-80, 1981-95, and 1996-present. Following independence, India's TT policy involved reverse-engineering foreign technology; incrementally improving it, adopting it to local or similar conditions, and producing for import substitution and for export by state owned enterprises and a small group of established oligarchs, ultimately leading to SMEs taking over in few niche technologies and growing to become worldwide suppliers. The real-world facts assembled, and insights gained from results of fairly simple statistical analysis of hard data are pregnant with meaning for socio-economic science practitioners and researchers alike. Lastly, some analyses to support future policy decisions are suggested.

Keywords: Technology transfer; Comparative technology transfer; History of technology transfer, India technology transfer; India; Israel; Turkey; Intellectual property; Diffusion of technology; Development; Comparative development Agricultural extension; Incubators; Technoparks; Policy; Technology policy; Tec