Summary: India’s intellectual property ecosystem achieved a record-breaking year in FY 2024-25, with total filings surging nearly 20% across patents, trademarks, designs, GIs, and copyrights. This growth signals rising confidence in domestic innovation and the effectiveness of modernisation initiatives like digitisation and AI integration. For readers, the report highlights India’s evolving IP landscape, offering insights into opportunities, challenges, and the country’s strengthening global position in intellectual property protection.
India’s intellectual property ecosystem experienced a breakout year in FY 2024–25, with filings reaching record highs across patents, designs, trademarks, geographical indications, and copyrights. The total IPR applications surged by 19.75 per cent to 749,946, up from 635,508 the previous year. The strong year-on-year growth in filings reflects confidence in the Indian market’s potential for the coming years.
This article provides insights into the Annual Report 2024–25 of Office of the Controller General of Patents, which examines the structural drivers, operational challenges, international positioning, and forward trajectory of India’s IP system, drawing on detailed filing, examination, grant, and revenue data across patents, designs, trademarks, geographical indications, and copyrights.
Patent filings in 2024–25 rose to 110,375 in FY 2024–25, with the applications demonstrating a consistent five-year upward momentum from 58,503 in FY 2020–21 and representing a 19.75 per cent year-on-year increase (see Figure 1). Domestic filings increased 32.23 per cent to 68,201, accounting for 61.79 per cent of the total applications, compared to 51,574 (55.96 per cent) the previous year, underscoring a structural shift towards Indian applicants constituting the majority.
[Figure 1: Trends in Last Five Years (FY 2020–21to FY 2024–25) with respect to filing of Patent Applications
Source: Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications, Annual Report 2024-25]