Mumbai, October 31 (IANS): Companies with foreign technology partnership (FTC) agreements in the automotive sector accounted for the highest share in the total output of domestic FTC companies, according to the latest biennial survey released by the RBI on Tuesday.
“The auto sector recorded a 28.4% production increase from 2022 to 2023, compared to a 24.3% production increase recorded by all FTC companies,” the study noted.
Japan, the United States and Germany remain the top three countries for technology transfer, according to survey respondents.
Of the 709 Indian companies that participated in the latest survey round, 356 companies reported 674 Foreign Technical Cooperation (FTC) agreements, of which 221 companies had also responded in the previous survey round.
Other highlights include that foreign direct investment (FDI) companies account for the overwhelming majority of FTCs, with more than two-thirds of FTC contracts involving the transfer of technology know-how or use of trademarks/brand names by foreign collaborators. and that royalty payments were being paid. More than 70% of FTCs apply this mode, and some FTCs have lump-sum technical fee addenda.
Additionally, of the 674 FTC agreements reported, 198 had export restriction provisions and 217 had provisions for exclusive rights to assets transferred under the agreements.
As for partner countries, technical cooperation with Japan continues to include maximum export restriction clauses, followed by the United States and Germany as countries from which technology is transferred.
Imports and exports of FTC reporting companies increased by 19.8% and 26.5%, respectively, from 2022 to 2023, and their shares in total production amounted to 13.6% and 24.0%, respectively.
The average profitability of FTC reporting companies, measured as the ratio of gross profit to capital employed, was 10.5% in this study.