The study finds the impact of lagged Research and Development expenditure on financial performance. The investigation analyses 69 pharmaceutical companies included in the BSE healthcare index (India) using secondary data for the period of 2008 to 2017. The two dependent variables which are considered separately are Return on Asset (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE). The two estimated regression models show that both the lagged value and its quadratic term have a significant influence on the accounting-based measures. With regard to the control variables, size and leverage are found to influence negatively whereas liquidity poses a positive effect on these two accounting-based performance measures. The article contributes by highlighting that the true relationship between R&D and financial performance is represented by a U-shaped curve as evident in few other studies.