Starting with the Indus Valley civilization around 2500 BC, India has been the site for significant historical and philosophical developments intermeshed with several facets of scientific and technological activities. Recent excavations at Kalibangan  (Rajasthan) and Lothal (Gujarat) have underlined the singular achievements of this period in history, especially in the spheres of town planning and building of houses using standard burnt bricks, interlinked drainage system, wheel - turned ceramics, solid wheel carts and the use of copper and bronze in various products.

In the field of medicine and surgery, Charak Samhita and Sushrita, classics on Ayurveda are acknowledged as important milestones of the sixth century BC. As far as metallurgy was concerned, according to the Rasvatnakar, the very first batch of zinc to be distilled by man took place around 50 BC in Zawar, Rajasthan. The mastery of Madhuchusta Vidhanam or the lost wax process, led to the grand Chola bronze coins during 800 - 1400 AD. Indian mathematicians and astronomers have contributed immensely to the fundamental concept of celestial science.

The discovery of coins and concrete evidence of maritime trade indicate a definite level of excellence in the fields of mathematics, geometry and astronomy. India's mastery of the science of pure mathematics goes back to ancient times. It is generally acknowledged that the concept of zero, crucial to the development of the science, is India's contribution to the world, which was given to Europe through the Arabs. In the Ganita Sara Samgraha, 850 A.D., Mahaviracharya, the greatest Jain mathematician mentions the significance of zero. In the fifth century BC Brahmagupta became the first mathematician to solve the Pellian equation. A century later, Aryabhatta arrived at the most accurate value of the mathematical constant, Pi, in the Gitikapada. The Bakhsali manuscript, written in the third or fourth century BC, on 72 leaves of birch bark, is an exclusively mathematical text that presents rules, illustrated instances and solutions to geometric, algebraic and arithmetical problems. In the Kalpasutras, penned in 290 BC, Bhadrabahu solved the Pythagorean theorem. The mathematical genius of the Jains was so developed that their highest numeral was a forerunner of the Alef zero of modern-day mathematics.

These were the earliest in a long tradition of great mathematicians and scientists that the country has produced. S.N. Bose, famous for Bose-Einstein statistics; Meghnad Saha, whose Saha theory of thermal ionisation is crucial to our understanding of spectra observed in astrophysics; Ramanujam and his singular contributions to Number Theory; Jayant Narlikar, who together with Hoyle made a tremendous contribution to the theories of the evolution of the Universe, are some of the internationally renown luminaries in the field of science.

Since 1947, with the metamorphosis of the country, as a new politically independent nation, India continues to pursue a programme of employing modern science and technology for national development. At present, the country spends about 0.83 percent of its GNP on scientific and technological development.