New innovations by Tata Group companies are contributing about $1 billion to the group’s revenue every year, Dr. Gopichand Khatragadda, Group Chief Technology Officer, Tata Sons on Thursday.
He said the Tata Group will increase its spending on innovations and R&D in the coming years. In 2015-16 the Tatas had spent ₹18,409 crore ($2.7 billion) on R&D which was 2.8% of the Group’s turnover for that year.
Dr. Khatragadda said that this ratio is likely go up in the future due to increased focus on innovations by every Tata company.
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“Spending will increase. The global number is 4% for successful technological companies. Going forward we expect that all our companies will be technological companies and they will reach that level of excellence,” Dr. Khatragadda said.
In India the R&D spend is very low which is estimated at 1% of the GDP. Out of that the government spends half of it while companies on an average spend 0.5% of their revenue on R&D.
“Compared to the domestic industry we are doing fairly well. For running a viable company one needs to have long-term sustainable profit. It comes from positioning yourself for the future and significant positioning comes from technology. That is why the focus on technology and innovation,” Dr. Khatragadda added.
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Speaking at a press conference to brief on the latest innovations and about the annual Tata Innovista programme, he said that Tata companies for the 2017 edition showcased over 3,300 implemented innovations which represented a growth of 110% in two years.
A significant number of these innovations have incorporated digital technologies, particularly in the areas of industrial automation, among others.
Dr. Katragadda said , “ The Tata group has continued to lead in intellectual property generation from artificial intelligence to microbiomics and from driver assist technologies to new 2D materials.”