Technology management in Indian companies

Since 1966, the Indian Government has progressively restricted imports of technology. Together with constraints on the growth of big business houses and of foreign firms, the next consequence of the Government's policies has been that it takes 3–5 years for a large firm to get a sanction for the import of technology and its utilization; this entails advance planning of technology imports, and advance action for the generation of alternatives within the country, should the imports not be allowed.

The restrictions on technology imports accentuated the need for internal research and development; at the same time, the recession that began in 1966, and whose effects still continue to be felt in some sectors, squeezed industrial profits and limited the resources that could be allocated to R & D. Hence large Indian firms have felt the need for methods of rational allocation of R & D resources among competing projects, and a number of them have been feeling their way towards general criteria of allocation. Some of their efforts are described here. They are essentially exploratory; but since R & D management is still a problematic area even in industrial countries, an analysis of Indian practices is perhaps of more general interest.