Hyderabad: In a testament to India’s growing clout as an innovation and research hub, patent applications crossed the 1 lakh mark for the first time in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25), with over 1.1 lakh patent applications being filed with the country’s intellectual property office. This was against 92,168 patent applications filed in 2023-24, marking nearly 20% growth. Interestingly, domestic innovators contributed to nearly 62% of these filings, indicating a major shift towards self-reliance in innovation and a growing R&D base in the country.Overall, intellectual property rights (IPR) filings clocked over 18% growth with healthy growth across all categories—patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indications—reaching 7.4 lakh in FY25 from 6.3 lakh as per the annual report for 2024-25 released by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks, and Geographical Indications.In an indicator of the growing trend of aesthetic and industrial innovation in the consumer and manufacturing sectors, design applications saw over a 41.5% jump to 43,005 in FY25 from 30,389 in FY24. According to the IP office, applications for trademarks, which are the most widely used form of commercial IP in the country, notched a 16% rise to 55 lakh from 4.7 lakh in FY24.Copyright and geographical indication (GI) filings went up 20%, highlighting the rising recognition of traditional knowledge and creative work, the IP office said. While copyright filings rose from 36,726 to 44,095 in FY25, the number of GI applications rose from 134 to 275 in FY25.The IP office attributed this robust growth to strategic policy and administrative reforms, including the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024, which streamlined patent prosecution processes and the adoption of international classification under the Locarno Agreement for Industrial Designs that simplified design filings. Technological advancements also played a key role in this growth with the introduction of AI-powered tools such as the Trade Mark Search Technology and the IP Saarthi chatbot, helping boost examination speed and accuracy while providing round-the-clock support to stakeholders.
