Chandigarh January 11, 2022
As per the latest ‘Intellectual Property India, 2019-20 Report’, released this month by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India, Punjab filed 1435 patent applications as compared to 660 filed in 2018-19, thus showing 117% increase in patent filings, which is maximum as compared other State of India. This percentage is way high than the 11% increase observed at the national level. Punjab now occupies the fourth position in the total number of patent filings after Maharashtra (4741), Tamil Nadu (3546) and Karnataka (2230). Amongst Union Territories, Chandigarh tops the patent filing (171). Its tally was only 76 in 2018-19, thus showing a whopping increase of 125%. The other States of the northern region namely, Himachal Pradesh and J&K showed an increase of 29% and 12.5% respectively. However, Haryana showed a decrease by 36% for the same period.
Analyzing the data at the national level, a total of 56267 patent applications were filed with Indian Patent Office (IPO) during 2019-20. Resident (i.e. Indian applicants) filing was 20843, which is 37.5% of the total filings. The rest of the applications have been filed by Non-Residents (i.e. applicants from other countries) such as USA (8718), Japan (3854), China (3433) and Germany (2065) and others. Computer/Electronics (11,126), Mechanical (10359), Communication (6862), Pharmaceuticals (5622) and Chemical (5198) are the major fields in which patent applications have been filed.
Professor Rupinder Tewari, IPR-Chair Professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh, informed that in 2021, Panjab University (PU) has been ranked first for innovation among government and aided (state-run and deemed) universities under technical category in India in the Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) by MHRD, GoI. Patents is one of the important components of Innovation Index. During the period 2019-20, PU showed 66% and 100% increase in the patents filed and granted respectively, as compared to the Patent data of 2018-19.
He further shared that a surge in patent filing in the northern region is mainly attributed to enhanced awareness about IP amongst the educationists and scientists of this region. Digitization of the data in IPO and increased hiring of Patent Examiners by the government are the major reasons for the enhanced number of patents being granted annually.
Amongst Scientific Research & Development Organizations, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is at the top (169). Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO, 89) and Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR, 40) are ranked number two and three, respectively. Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) also figure amongst the top ten applicants.
The total number of patents granted during the year 2019-20 was 24936. This figure is 63% more than those granted in 2018-19 (15283). As in the case of patent applications filing, leading fields of inventions in which patents have been granted are Mechanical, Chemical, Communication, Electrical, Computer/Electronics and Pharmaceutical (in descending order).
