Companies like Microsoft, Tesla have billions to spend on R&D but smaller businesses do not have the same capabilities and that does not mean R&D is impossible.

As per the Indian National Innovation Survey, innovative firms are defined as follows: “Firms that report different changes in their production, organizational and marketing practices and are engaged in innovative activities.”

The different types of innovations reported by the survey respondents include product innovation, process innovation, product quality and standardization, savings or more efficient use of inputs, use of alternative material in production, and installation of new machines. Around 35.2% of SMEs are found to be innovative in the survey and are engaged in different innovation activities. Medium-sized firms are found to bemore innovative than small firms, possibly due to their larger size and capacity to undertake innovative activities.