A study conducted by the Hyderabad based Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on R&D in India has listed Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad, as the company to top the R&D spend. Ranbaxy Laboratories is the other pharmaceutical company among the top 10 companies spending high on R&D. The study, however, does not reveal how much was spent on R&D or what percentage of total sales was spent on R&D.

The study reveals that of the 8334 firms only 644 have shown involvement in R&D while the rest totaling 7690 have not reported any major R&D spend. Of the 644 companies , there were only 6 pharmaceutical companies reporting high spend on R&D. The study reveals that Indian firms spend on R&D continue to be considerably lower than their global competitors as a percentage of their sales turnovers.

The study shows that pharmaceuticals, automobiles and software sectors have responded to global challenges and upped investment on R&D.