Innovations in India: Criteria and Obstacles

The study of innovations in emerging economies is important for several reasons. They have large potential markets and can be drivers of these economies. The successful ones can make a big difference in a region and may well have a global impact. Finally, these innovations represent a wider spectrum of innovations than those commonly studied. India is rapidly becoming a part of the global economy and given its market potential it would be of interest to study innovations in India. The findings would be useful for the strategic and tactical planning of foreign companies in India, as well as for Indian firms who need to assess their own global competitiveness. This paper focuses on what might be appropriate criteria for judging an innovation as successful in an emerging economy such as India and on identifying obstacles to innovativeness. While a case may be made that Indian innovations should be judged by global criteria, we argue here that there is a wide range of incremental innovations that should be considered and judged by a broader set of criteria. This paper develops and discusses these additional criteria. However, even with such a set, emerging economies have a poor record of producing innovations. Therefore we review the literature and identify key obstacles to innovativeness. The lessons may be applicable to other emerging or developing economies