Patenting vital for Indian industry in long run: Amitabh Kant

Speaking at the India Economic Summit, Bharat Forge's Baba Kalyani said that the challenge for India was import substitution

Innovation and design is key to India becoming a manufacturing nation, said Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, also the driver of the Make in India campaign.

"Indian industry has not been patenting. Only 22 per cent of patents being registered in India are by Indian companies. They should go all out and do large scale patenting. In long run patents are very critical," Kant said during the India Economic Summit, jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Economic Forum.

He added the it was important that states becomes champions of manufacturing; unleashing power by reforming land, labour etc.

Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, said that the big challenge for India was "how do we substitute imports for Indian manufactured products".

Johan C Aurik, global managing partner and chairman of the board, A T Kearney, said that India cannot imitate the Chinese growth model as the world has changed. "The Indian market is bigger than what most players realise," he added. 

Kalyani also pointed out that the biggest Indian global brands are yoga and spices.