150 universities in the QS University ranking system, a first for any Indian university.The research output from Indian universities has been increasing steadily in the last decade, and has helped bag higher rankings. A deeper look at the education rankings show that the improvements are partly in perceptions, as the QS University Ranking system uses opinion of peers as a key input. As the government invested more on education — through new institutions and improved research funding — Indian educational institutions improved in the eyes of their global peers.Even so, India fares poorly in education. Its overall rank in education, including primary and tertiary, is 118. China is ranked 4 here. This ranking is somewhat deceptive, as some data are not available for China. But India compares poorlyone, especially when combined with terrorism impact. Difficulty in starting and closing a business is a big weakness. Poor education system is a weakness in spite of recent improvements. Indian innovation is also hampered by poor environment performance, low density of startups, and low publishing output.One big drawback is the absence of elite universities that can expand a country's innovation capability rapidly. "Poor investments in education is the most important reason for India's under-leverage," says Dutta. India has its IITs and a few good technical institutions, but broad-based elite universities have an influence beyond creating technology capabilities."Science-led innovation is almost absent in India," says RA Mashelkar, former director-general of CSIR and National Research Professor. Science-led innovation can create entire industries that last long.The emergence of campus startups is