India sees an upsurge in patenting activity

With an increasing number of patent applications, the patenting activity in the country is reaching new heights. In 2022 India ascended to the third position after the US and China, in terms of the number of trademark filings.

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The World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023 report released recently shows that in 2022 India ascended to the third position after the US and China, in terms of the number of trademark filings. The performance in patents has also shown improvement for the sixth consecutive year.

The provisional data from the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) for the first half of this fiscal suggests that nearly 55-60,000 patents might be granted this year. In 2016-17, only 45,444 patent applications were filed and 9,847 were granted. This increased to 82,805 and 34,153 respectively in 2022-23.

The applications were earlier dominated by the MNCs, just regularizing their overseas patents in the country. However, the number of Indians applying for patents is now increasing. The rise in the number of patent applications in recent times is coming mostly from Indian residents.

Compared to a mere 29% in 2016–17, resident applications now make up more than half (52.3%) of all applications in 2022–2023. The increase in patent registration by Indians is significant, since this indicates more innovation within the country, and not just the registration of foreign patents.

India’s intellectual property rights ecosystem is showing some improvement, but the country is still way behind its global peers in terms of the number of patent applications & grants and terms of the efficiency of the entire process.

In terms of the number of patent applications, India ranks sixth, however, there is an enormous gap between it and the top five offices. During 2022, the number of patents filed in China and the US, the top two countries, stood at 16,19,268 and 5,94,340 respectively. The number of patents granted in the US and China was about 7,98,347 and 3,23,410 respectively. (it is to be noted that the numbers for China do not include the utility model patents, hence are comparable).