Patents as drivers of Make in India

The announcement by the Central Government that it is mulling over making the Indian Patent Act more simplified and research-friendly for product-oriented results is laudable. Official data on the grant of patents shows that for India, there is a long way to go. While China grants 5 lakh patents annually, India grants only 23,000 in a year. A substantial increase in government budget allocation for research and development will be necessary to support research in a big way and bring about the desired change in the overall situation. Senior Adviser at the Department of Science and Technology, Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, attributes the low volume of patents to “lack of the culture of patent filing and taking it to the logical conclusion” in the country. While addressing the Global Science, Research, and Innovation Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), he also highlighted that, compared to the global average of two years, the duration of patent filing and granting is three years. The “World Intellectual Property Report 2022: The Direction of Innovation” Geneva: WIPO” states that diverse technologies have driven innovation growth over the past 100 years, and digital-related innovation has grown 172% faster than all patents in the past five years. It also claims that the direction of innovation is not decided single-handedly; it is the result of the dynamic interaction of multiple decisions by entrepreneurs, researchers, consumers, and policymakers. A study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found that a one percent increase in trademark protection increases foreign direct investment (FDI) by 3.8 percent; a one percent improvement in patent protection increases FDI by 2.8 percent; and a one percent improvement in copyright protection increases FDI by 6.8 percent. The National Education Policy 2020 envisages merging all funding agencies for research into a single entity called the National Research Foundation (NRF) to achieve the twin objectives of catalysing basic research and high-quality innovation. One of the objectives of the NRF is to seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly universities and colleges. The central government’s earmarking of Rs 2,000 crore in the Union Budget for 2023–24 for the proposed NRF has triggered hopes of building up the required ecosystem of research in the country. As the total outlay of NRF is Rs 50,000 crore over a period of five years, as proposed in the Union Budget for 2021–22, the proposed umbrella body should become operational at the earliest, and budget allocation for the current fiscal need should increase proportionately. Increasing allocations for existing research activities currently underway in different institutions of higher education, technical institutions, and other research bodies until the proposed NRF becomes fully operational in the long run will be crucial to scaling up research and patent filings. The fact that only about 35% of patents in the country are filed by domestic entities while about 65% of patents are filed by foreign entities speaks volumes about the ground realities of poor awareness of intellectual property rights. The Ministry of Commerce apprised the parliamentary standing committee that generating awareness about IPRs amongst medium, small, and micro enterprises (MSMEs) is crucial to creating a robust IPR, but due to a lack of awareness about the significance of IPRs as a major business tool for furthering innovation and competition for generating more profits and revenue, the filing of IPRs by MSMEs is quite low in the country. Moreover, procedural issues in obtaining a patent application, as well as high investment in converting a patent into a final product and marketing the same, compels the MSME sector to refrain from focusing on IPRs, states the report of the parliamentary panel. The government’s addressing these issues and simplifying the procedures of patent filing and granting will be crucial to achieving the end objectives of the proposed NRF. “Make in India” and Atmanirbhar Bharat are not just about merely boosting domestic production to reduce import dependency but are also about India developing indigenous technologies and securing patents for those instead of sourcing them from other countries. This task cannot be left to the government, and the industry needs to play a pro-active role in supporting R&D activities for technology innovation and inventions in a big way by collaborating with academia and the government. The number of patent filings will continue to be less than the desired volume even after simplification of the procedures and the building of awareness on patent filing if the flow and quantum of funds for R&D activities do not increase exponentially. It is high time for the central and state governments, industry, and academia to collaborate and create an ecosystem to boost research and patent filing. Nurturing organic ideas of inventions and innovation among Indian students and youth and building awareness of patent filing with a handholding approach is the need of the hour.