NEW DELHI :
Patent filings in India rose 30% in the last five years while the number of patents granted during the same period almost tripled, the Economic Survey 2021-22 released on Monday showed.
The survey noted that 58,502 patent applications were filed in 2020-21—up from 45,444 in 2016-17. In comparison, 39,400 patents were filed in 2010-11. Similarly, 28,391 patents were granted in India in 2020-21, up from 9,847 in 2016-17 and 7,509 in 2010-11.
The increase in patent filing boosted India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index from 81 in 2015-16 to 46 in 2021. It also coincides with the ongoing startup boom in India.
Startups recognized under the Startup India programme get up to 80% rebate on patent filings and 50% rebate in trademark filings, in an attempt to encourage innovation.
Educational institutes and technology companies with research and development (R&D) centres in India have been active as well. For instance, earlier this month, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur said it filed 107 intellectual property rights (IPRs) in 2021, taking its overall tally of IPRs to 810.
Samsung has filed 7,500 patents globally from India, out of which 3,500 were filed in India in the last 10 years, Aloknath De, the chief technology officer (CTO) of Samsung Research Institute told Mint in November 2021.
To be sure, the survey pointed out that the number of patents granted in India remains a fraction of China, the US, Japan, and South Korea. Though patents filed in India have grown considerably, as per the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the number is still a fraction of the 530,000 patents granted in China and 352,000 patents granted in the US, according to the survey.
It also noted that 179,000 patents were granted in Japan in 2021 and 135,000 were granted in South Korea, respectively, as of 2020.
The survey attributed this disparity to the low spending on research and development (R&D) in India, which was 0.7% of the country’s GDP in 2020. Procedural delays and complexity are some of the other factors that have deterred many from filing patents in India.
According to the survey, the average time taken for a final call on granting patents in India in 2020 was 42 months, down from 52 months in 2019 and 64 months in 2017.
In comparison, the average pendency for patents in the US was 20.8 months, while in China it was 20 months. It was even lower in South Korea and Japan—15.8 months and 15 months, respectively.
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