Govt's aim is to make IPR policy more efficient: Nirmala Sitharaman

India's IPR policy is TRIPS compliant and forward looking, says the Minister of Commerce & Industry

Last Updated : Apr 28 2017 | 5:36 PM IST

The mindset of the government is to make IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) policy more efficient and speedier, according to Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Commerce and Industry. Speaking at the ‘National Intellectual Property Awards Ceremony’ organised by DIPP and CII in New Delhi yesterday, she said, “India’s IPR policy is TRIPS compliant and forward looking. Creating awareness is very important and launching an IPR awareness campaign in schools across the country by CIPAM is a step in creating mindset and respect for innovation right from the schools.”

She said the two new awards introduced this year to encourage Indian start-ups to develop and protect IP; and awards to police station to encourage and recognise enforcement of IP honour the valuable contribution towards enforcement of IPRs in the country which is very important aspect in protecting IP rights.

Stating that the Government of India imparts great importance to IPR, O P Gupta, Controller General of, Patents, Designs and Trademarks, said, “Pendency of trademark examination at Indian Patent Office has been reduced to 30 days. Output of Indian Patent Examination has now reached to 4000 applications per month. DIPP is committed to bring the pendency down even further by next year. Indian Patent Office, DIPP and Government is committed to improving IP ecosystem in the country.”

Indian industry’s R&D spend has been around 0.3 percent of GDP as against global average of 1.5 percent of GDP. “Indian Government’s current expenditure in R&D is around 0.65-0.7 percent of GDP which is very close to global average. The concern is that in India, only 0.04 percent of GDP is spent on R&D at the academic institutions whereas the global average is 10 times more - 0.4 percent of GDP. This is a serious issue for government to address immediately by re-allocating its R&D budget more towards academic institutions,” said Dr Naushad Forbes, President, CII.

Complimenting DIPP for constituting India Design Council for providing a boost to design in industry, Dr Forbes said, “The potential for design to contribute in industry Make in India is huge. Make in India will be sustainable when Design in India gets its due support and attention. And to achieve such a goal, he strongly recommend institutionalisation of India Design Council.”