Look up yellapragada subba rao, CV raman, CV chandrasekhar, hargobind khorana, JC bose, Tagore, Ramanujam- few intellects and scientists of the 20th century.
Intellects of antiquity-aryabhatta, varahamihira, charaka, vishnusharma, kautilya, sushrutha, ramanuja to name a few.
India has always produced great intelletcts, north or south, east or west. I am not even talking about its great warriors yet.
Islam and british rule had subdued it for centuries during the middle ages and suppressed the free thinking which is essential for invention and discovery.
Though we are pulling ourselves down with cultural and communal infighting, there are still good people left there to make a mark in this century. Wait and watch.
