India ranked second last in Intellectual Property Index

After being ranked last for consecutive two years, India has now moved up 1 position to 29th on protection and enforcement of intellectual property practices, a US Chamber of Commerce report said today.
While the US tops the list of 30 countries, only Thaliand is behind India. Surprisingly, Vietnam, Nigeria, South Africa, China and Russia are ranked above India in the list prepared by Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC).
While still posing significant challenges to rights holders across the board, India has improved its score and performance, it said.
"Although the IP environment in India has improved slightly, several opportunities exist for the Modi administration to make further enhancements, particularly by amending patentability requirements...," it added.

It said the number of concerns that continue to exist includes "India's patentability requirements remain outside established international best practices; there is a lack of specific IP rights for the life sciences sector".
Further it said that in India, the draft report released by the the six-member IPR think tank recognises the fundamental links between IP, innovation and the development of innovative products.

In May last year, three major US companies - Boeing, Abbott and Honeywell - have come in support of India's IPR regime.
Aviation major Boeing had said India has a strong legal framework to protect such rights. Pharma company Abbott has stated that it is "not currently facing any significant challenges with respect to intellectual property protection in India".

India too has consistently maintained that its IPR regime is in compliant with global rules.