New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS): The Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD), in absolute terms, has increased by three times during the last 10 years, the Parliament was told on Wednesday.

"The government has been making concerted efforts to enhance the GERD as a percentage of GDP. It has allowed corporate sector to make R&D investments under the provision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)," Science & Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

However, there was no mention of the amount, either for year on year expenditure or total.

Corporates can invest in technology business incubators or contribute in research efforts carried out by institutions and national research laboratories as a part of their CSR, the Minister added.

Several steps have been taken to attract the private sector to invest in R&D such as incentivising the private sector's R&D participation by improving the ease of doing business in the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) activities, introducing flexible tools for public procurement, creating avenues for collaborative STI funding through portfolio-based funding mechanisms such as Public-Private-Partnerships and other innovative hybrid funding mechanisms, the reply said.