A large pool of scientists and engineers coupled with the presence of world-class research institutes is pulling a number of trans national corporations to set up research and development centres in India, a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report said on Thursday.

The scope of TNCs research and development has changed since the 1980s when the activities of global giants were limited to adapting their products to the Indian market.

But starting with Texas Instruments in semiconductor design in 1986 and Astra a year later in bio-pharmaceuticals, more TNCs have set up globally oriented R&D units in India, the UNCTAD said in its World Investment Report 2005.

The 1990s have seen the entry of TNCs in diverse industries from telecom (Motorola), computers (Microsoft), avionics systems (Daimler-Benz) and biometrics (Pfizer [Get Quote]). Since 2000, other entrants include Intel (semiconductor), GE (aircraft engines, white goods and medical equipments) and Pfizer (veterinary medicines), UNCTAD said.

The TNCs were attracted for several reasons, the most important being the availability of qualified scientists and engineers and the existence of internationally reputed R&D institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technologies, Indian Institute of Science and Centre for Drug Research.

Many of the TNC R&D units in India collaborate with these institutes, while several TNCs that do not have an R&D presence in India outsource R&D to them, the report said.

UNCTAD said several Indian firms like Infosys [Get Quote], Wipro [Get Quote] and TCS [Get Quote] have also become global players and are forming R&D alliances with other TNCs like Nokia and IBM.