Recognising the importance of nurturing innovation and creativity in a knowledge economy, India is taking great strides in strengthening its intellectual property ecosystem.
Further, given the key role played by MSMEs in the economic growth of India, it is proposed to reduce the fees for various IPRs as follows:
| IPR | ACTIVITY | CATEGORY | CURRENT FEES | PROPOSED FEES | REDUCTION (%) |
| PATENTS | FILING | MSME | 4000/ 4400 | 1600/ 1750 | 60 |
| REQUEST FOR EXAMINATION | 10000/ 11000 | 4000/ 4400 | 60 | ||
| EXPEDITED EXAMINATION (only e-filing) | 25000 | 8000 | 68 | ||
| RENEWAL | 2000 to 20000 (+10% for physical filing) | 800 to 8000 (+10% for physical filing) | 60 | ||
| DESIGNS | FILING | MSME/ Startup | 2000 | 1000 | 50 |
| GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS | REGISTRATION | AUTHORISED USER | 500 | NIL | 100 |
| ISSUANCE OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE | 100 | NIL | 100 | ||
| RENEWAL | 1000 | NIL | 100 |
Fees structure is for e-filing/ physical filing. Draft Rules for amendment in GI Rules have been notified.
National IPR Policy adopted by the Government in 2016 has paved the way to further strengthen the IPR regime in the country. Already, the concrete steps undertaken in the past 5 years have seen IP filings rise:
| Filing of IP applications | Increase from 2013-14 to 2018-19 (%) |
| Patents | 18 |
| Trademarks | 69 |
Domestic filing for patents has increased from 22% in 2013-14 to 34% in 2018-19. Awareness programmes for IP are being conducted at schools, colleges, universities, R&D institutes and industry clusters. Multi-pronged strategies have been used to address the issue of pendency in IP applications, including manifold augmentation of manpower and streamlining of procedures. These strategies have paid rich dividends, and there has been a sharp jump in the disposal of IP applications:
| Disposal of IPR applications | Increase from 2013-14 to 2018-19 (%) |
| Patents | 353 |
| Trademarks | 395 |
