India has come a long way in the Global Innovation Index (GII), from the 81st spot in 2015 to the 40th spot in 2022 today. GII has established itself as a tool for governments worldwide to reflect upon policies and their impact. It has over the years recognised India’s continuous rise due to the progressive measures taken by the government and industry working hand in hand. The GII is the fulcrum for governments – across the world – to assess their respective countries’ social and economic changes. Over the years, the GII has established itself as a policy tool for various governments and helped them to reflect upon the existing status quo. The country has taken up structural reforms to strengthen its IPR regime, including modernising the IP office, reducing legal compliances and facilitating IP filing for startups, women entrepreneurs, small industries and others. Domestic filing of Patents registered a 46% growth in the last five years. The Indian Government has committed to bolstering the ecosystem of patents, design, trademarks, and GI (Geographical Indication) systems; to encourage innovation, research & development in the country and bring newer inventions and knowledge from India’s heritage systems to the global platform.

Marks (CGPDTM) last year announced that the IP process has been simplified and streamlined than before and also about the re-engineering of the whole process, including new timelines for disposal and shift to digital mode to promote ease of filing and obtaining services. For example, under Trade Mark Rules, 74 Forms have been replaced by 8 Consolidated Forms. CGPDTM has taken special care to expedite the examination of patents, especially for applications filed by Startups, women entrepreneurs, etc. While assessing the impact of measures taken, it is noted that E-filing has increased from 30 % to more than 95 %. India has also seen a rapid increase in the grant of patents and copyrights in the last 5-6 years. The number of patents granted has gone up from 6,326 in 2015-16 to 28,391 in 2020-21, while Trade Marks registration has shot up from 65,045 in 2015-16 to 2,55,993 in 2020-21. Similarly, while 4,505 Copyrights were granted in 2015-16, 16,402 were awarded last fiscal year. These developments have positively improved India’s ranking in Global Innovation Index. India has climbed 33 notches from 81st position in 2015-16 to 48th in 2020. The Office of CGPDTM is located in Mumbai. It functions under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

The Controller General supervises the working of the Patents Act 1970, the Designs Act, 2000 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and advises the Government on these subjects. The Head Office of the Patent office is in Kolkata, Trade Mark Registry is in Mumbai, and the GI Registry is in Chennai. The Offices of The Patent Information System (PIS) and National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM) are in Nagpur. Innovation has been at the forefront of our battle against the unprecedented crisis created by the pandemic. It will be pivotal in driving the country’s resilience and self-reliance, as enshrined in the Prime Minister’s clarion call on Atma Nirbhar Bharat. India is the top-ranked economy in Central and Southern Asia and shows particular strengths in tertiary education and R&D, including global R&D-intensive firms, the quality of its universities and scientific publications. India also over-performs in innovation relative to its GDP. The consistent improvement in the GII ranking is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant startup ecosystem, and the amazing work done by public and private research organisations. The Scientific Departments like the Department of Atomic Energy, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Space have played a pivotal role in enriching the National Innovation Ecosystem.

The NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to optimise the national efforts for bringing policy-led innovation in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space, alternative energy sources, etc. The India Innovation Index, the latest edition released last year by the NITI Aayog, has been widely accepted as a major step in decentralising innovation across all the states of India. A constant thrust in monitoring and evaluating India’s position in the global rankings have been provided by the NITI Aayog, including in the GII. NITI Aayog is the nodal department of GoI for improving India’s performance in the GII. It has been taking several steps in this regard, from the constitution of an inter-ministerial committee to regularly interacting with top-ranking countries in the index to understand and adopt their best practices. To improve India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index, NITI Aayog has constituted an inter-ministerial coordination committee chaired by its CEO Amitabh Kant. The committee monitors the progress of data updation for the indicators of the index.