India has made significant strides in the global intellectual property (IP) landscape, securing a position in the top 10 countries for patents, trademarks, and industrial designs, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 2024 report. The latest WIPI report highlights India’s impressive growth in IP filings, reflecting the country’s commitment to innovation and intellectual property rights.
In 2023, India recorded a remarkable 15.7% growth in patent applications, the fastest among the top 20 countries. This growth marks the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases in patent filings. India now ranks 6th globally with 64,480 patent applications, with over half (55.2%) of these applications coming from domestic applicants—a first for the country. Furthermore, India granted 149.4% more patents in 2023 compared to the previous year, underscoring the rapid expansion of its IP ecosystem.
India’s industrial design sector also witnessed significant growth, with applications rising by 36.4%. This surge reflects the increasing focus on product design, manufacturing, and the creative industries in India. The leading sectors for industrial design applications were Textiles and Accessories, Tools and Machines, and Health and Cosmetics, which together accounted for nearly half of the design filings.
The WIPO report also highlighted India’s strong performance in trademark filings, with a 6.1% increase in 2023. India ranked 4th globally for trademarks, with nearly 90% of these filings originating from domestic businesses. The sectors leading in trademark filings included Health (21.9%), Agriculture (15.3%), and Clothing (12.8%). India’s trademark office now holds the second-largest number of active trademark registrations worldwide, with over 3.2 million trademarks in force.
Over the past five years, India’s IP activity has shown significant growth. Between 2018 and 2023, patent and industrial design applications more than doubled, while trademark filings increased by 60%. This surge reflects the growing importance of intellectual property in India’s economic expansion, with the country’s patent-to-GDP ratio rising sharply from 144 in 2013 to 381 in 2023.
The global trend in IP filings also showed resilience in the face of economic challenges, with a record 3.55 million patent applications filed worldwide in 2023, a 2.7% increase from 2022. The rise in patent filings was largely driven by Asian economies, particularly China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and India. The increase in resident filings, especially in India, highlights a shift towards local innovation, as more countries strengthen their domestic IP ecosystems.
