Indian Patent Office Grants 1,03,057 Patents in FY 2023-24

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 31st July. The Indian Patent Office has granted 1,03,057 patents for the fiscal year 2023-24, marking a significant boost to the country’s innovation and industrial modernization efforts.

The Government has implemented several measures to strengthen the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem in India.

Key Developments:

Modernization of IP Offices: All documents filed with the Patent Office are now digitized and accessible online, reducing the need for physical visits for filing and processing.

Fee Incentives: Significant fee concessions have been introduced, resulting in increased patent filings by startups, MSMEs, and educational institutions. For instance, filings by startups rose from 801 in 2018-19 to 2,546 in 2023-24.

IPR Awareness and Recognition: The National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM), launched in December 2021, has trained over 2 million people in IPRs. IP awards are also given annually to top achievers.

Start-Up Support: The Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP), introduced in 2016, provides pro bono facilitation and covers IP experts’ fees, leading to a notable increase in IP applications by startups.

Capacity Building: To handle the backlog, the Patent Office has increased technical manpower and promoted officers, resulting in over 1 lakh patents granted in 2023-24.

The Office of Geographical Indications Registry also saw an increase in applications, with 160 GI applications registered in 2023-24, bringing the total to 643 as of June 2024.

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, provided these details in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.