ICCK

India seems to be shining on the innovation front, with an average 247 patents filed per day in 2023, highest in the last two decades. Patent filings surged by 17% to 90,309 in 2023, a report by SBI Research and Indian Patent Office, shared exclusively with TOI, said.
Significantly, India has also drastically reduced the average patent pendency by 15 months to 53 months in 2023.

The maximum reduction has been achieved in the fields of chemistry and polymer, where the average time in patent approvals is 30 months. A higher number of patents being granted, along with reduced pendency signifies an efficient ecosystem for recognising and protecting inventive ideas, experts told TOI.
Over the last few years, delays in patent examination and subsequent approvals had created multiple obstacles for innovators. The share of resident Indians in the Indian Patent Office (IPO) filings among single inventors, jumped from 22.9% in the pre-2014 era to 35.5% post 2014, the analysis that tracked the last two decades said.
"Research advancements in rapidly growing industries are primarily driven by intellectual property, particularly in areas of computers, communications, and biomedicals, which are experiencing increased momentum under influence of Digital India. Mechanical engineering has been the foremost field for IP creation leading to innovation, accounting for 20% of the total for the past twenty years, closely followed by chemical Science at approximately 16%. While considering patent filings across all sectors, Indians are taking lead in fields of computers, biomedicals and traditional domains of chemistry and mechanical engineering," Unnat P Pandit, controller general of patents, designs and trade marks, said.