Research, Patents & Innovation

India generated relatively few patents a decade ago — just 5,978 were granted in 2014-15, most to foreign applicants. Reforms to the patent office, cheaper filing fees for startups, and a booming startup scene changed that: grants rose seventeen-fold to 1,03,057 in 2023-24, and for the first time most patent filings came from Indians rather than foreigners.

India rose from 81st in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 to 39th in 2024, and became the world's sixth-largest patent filer. Resident filings jumped from a quarter to over half of the total, and the government is setting up the Anusandhan National Research Foundation with a ₹50,000 crore corpus to fund research.

Innovation is nudged along by a whole scaffolding: a modernised, faster patent office, the Startup India programme, research funding, and thousands of Atal Tinkering Labs putting tools in school children's hands. A patent gives an inventor a temporary monopoly in exchange for publishing how the invention works — so ideas are both rewarded and shared. India also measures itself against the world through the Global Innovation Index, using its rank to spot weak links.

India has climbed to 39th in the Global Innovation Index (from 81st a decade ago), ranks 6th in the world for patent filings, and in 2023-24 domestic patent applications outnumbered foreign ones for the first time. The next step is steadying patent output past this surge — and, most importantly, lifting R&D spending (still just ~0.65% of GDP, far below rivals). A new ₹1 lakh crore Research & Innovation Fund aims to pull in more private research money.

The next step is steadying patent output past the FY24 backlog surge and lifting R&D spending (about 0.65% of GDP today) so more ideas become real commercial products.

Patents granted 5,978 (FY15) → 1,03,057 (FY24), ~17x; GII rank 81 (2015) → 39 (2024); resident filings 24.8% → 55.2%; ANRF ₹50,000 cr. Source: CGPDTM / Economic Survey / WIPO.