India gains ground with sustained momentum for intellectual property

India has made a focused effort to support investments in innovation and creativity through increasingly robust intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement, the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC) said on Wednesday.

The GIPC released its eighth annual International IP Index 'Art of the Possible' evaluating how 53 global economies approach IP from patent and copyright policies to the commercialisation of IP assets and ratification of international treaties.

India's absolute score increased from 36.04 per cent (16.22 out of 45) in the seventh edition to 38.46 per cent (19.23 out of 50) in the eighth edition.

"Since the release of the 2016 National IPR Policy, the government has made a focused effort to support investments in innovation and creativity through increasingly robust IP protection and enforcement," said Patrick Kilbride, Senior Vice President for the GIPC at the US Chamber of Commerce.

As reflected in the 2020 Index, implementation of the policy has improved the speed of processing for patent and trademark applications, increased awareness of IP rights among Indian innovators and creators, and provided new regulatory tools to facilitate the registration and enforcement of those rights.

Many of India's most ambitious reforms were captured in previous editions of the International IP Index. In the sixth (2018) and seventh (2019) editions, India made larger overall advances in the rankings than any other country. That momentum continues this year, albeit at a slower pace, with the eighth edition indicating an improvement of nearly 7 per cent in India's score.

However, India continues to be a promising yet challenging market for technologically cutting-edge, IP-intensive industries. Serious hurdles remain, particularly in the areas of patent eligibility and enforcement.

Confidence in the reliability of IP rights can empower the next generation of Indian innovators, fuel the creation of 21st-century content, and transition the country into a true knowledge-based economy.

"We have seen that play out in India where the share of patents registered with the Indian Patent Office by Indian entrepreneurs increased from less than 9 per cent in 2008-09 to 34 per cent in 2018-19," said the report.

The US Chamber International IP Index creates a template for economies that aspire to become 21st century, knowledge-based economies through more effective IP protection. It maps the IP ecosystem in 53 global economies representing over 90 per cent of global GDP.

The 2020 Index includes three new countries and five new indicators, demonstrating growing global attention to the importance of IP protection.

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