development (R&D) productivity performance has been rekindled with the recent rise of spending by the Central Public Sector Enterprises in India, including Maharatna and Navaratna enterprises (with the Maharatna and the Navaratna status companies receive greater functional freedom based on few parameters set by the Department of Public Enterprises) on R&D in their conduct of democracy-imbued and innovation-led sustainable and smart growth. With the help of eight decision variables in a multi-objective best-practice framework, this study measured the ultimate effectiveness ratings of the thirty enterprises for the past three years. The findings markedly show that though the enterprises are becoming highly technology-intensive, their efficiency gain and exposure in productivity strength are not encouraging, except the Maharatna and the Navaratna enterprises, and many of them are geared on the same trajectory to enhance corporate strength by aggressive R&D spendin