n. The state of being upgraded; the act or an instance of upgrading.
2000
The banking industry emerged as a major buyer of networking products with foreign and Indian banks embarking on massive network upgradation projects.
1979 (earliest)
The protocol also envisages the possibility of continuous technological upgradation in the existing fields of manufacture.
Upgradation is one of those redundant words that probably grew in the fertile fields of corporate self-importance. After all, the existing nouns "upgrade" and "upgrading" seem downright wimpy compared to the muscular upgradation with its four syllables and -ation suffix.
This redundancy may explain why upgradation isn't in any dictionary (at least those that I have, including the OED 2; if you see it in a dictionary, let me know). However, a case can be made that it should be in the dictionaries because the word is both old and popular.
For evidence of its longevity, I managed to track it back to 1979. For evidence of its popularity, I checked through the Nexis database of newspapers, magazines, and other media and found thousands of citations. However, the pattern of these citations is interesting. There were only 72 from 1979 to 1989. Then the numbers look like this:
1990 - 13
1991 - 10
1992 - 31
1993 - 46
1994 - 55
1995 - 44
1996 - 77
1997 - 483
1998 - 908
1999 - 853
2000 - 1,028
As you can see, for some reason usage of the word exploded in 1997 - 1998 and has continued apace. So if upgradation isn't in any dictionary, it's likely because its popularity is relatively recent.
This redundancy may explain why upgradation isn't in any dictionary (at least those that I have, including the OED 2; if you see it in a dictionary, let me know). However, a case can be made that it should be in the dictionaries because the word is both old and popular.
For evidence of its longevity, I managed to track it back to 1979. For evidence of its popularity, I checked through the Nexis database of newspapers, magazines, and other media and found thousands of citations. However, the pattern of these citations is interesting. There were only 72 from 1979 to 1989. Then the numbers look like this:
1990 - 13
1991 - 10
1992 - 31
1993 - 46
1994 - 55
1995 - 44
1996 - 77
1997 - 483
1998 - 908
1999 - 853
2000 - 1,028
As you can see, for some reason usage of the word exploded in 1997 - 1998 and has continued apace. So if upgradation isn't in any dictionary, it's likely because its popularity is relatively recent.