The post below gives statistical information about the number of patent applications filed and granted under various fields of invention, in the past decade.
On the whole, a consistent rise has been seen with respect to the number of patent applications filed. The number of applications filed under the Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical fields show a considerable upsurge, while the number of applications filed in fields like bio-technology and food has plunged.
During the year 2008-2009, a total number of 16,061 patents were granted out of which 2,541 were granted to Indian applicants. The number of patents in force, as on 31st March, 2009, was 30,822 out of which 6,158 patents belonged to Indians. A drop in the number of patents granted was seen the next year, out of a total of 6,168, 1,725 applications belonged to Indians. The total number of patents in force, in the same year, were 37,334, out of which 6,781 patents belonged to Indians.
In 2010-2011, 7,509 patents were granted out of which 1,273 were granted to Indian applicants. In the subsequent year, total number of patents granted decreased to 4,381 out of which 699 were granted to Indian applicants. 39,989 patents were in force as on 31st March 2012, out of which 7,545 patents belonged to Indians.
In the year 2012-2013, out of the 4,126 patents granted, 716 belonged to Indian applicants. The numbers of patents in force as on 31st March, 2013, were 43,920 out of which 8308 patents belonged to Indians. Then, in 2013-2014, total number of patents granted saw a slight hike, 4,227 patents were granted out of which 634 were granted to Indian applicants. 7,464 patents out of 42,632 patents in force were of Indian applicants.
The statistics below give information about the number of patents filed and granted under different fields.
Number of patent applications filed from 2008 to 2014 under various fields of invention
| Fields | 2008-2009 | 2009- 2010 | 2010- 2011 | 2011- 2012 | 2012- 2013 | 2013- 2014 |
| Chemical | 5884 | 6014 | 6911 | 1168 | 6812 | 6769 |
| Drug | 3672 | 3070 | 3526 | 282 | 2954 | 2507 |
| Food | 340 | 276 | 315 | 21 | 452 | 387 |
| Electrical | 2319 | 2376 | 2719 | 228 | 3568 | 4371 |
| Mechanical | 6360 | 6775 | 7782 | 888 | 10198 | 11318 |
| Computer/Electronics | 7063 | 7646 | 9594 | 584 | 4424 | 4410 |
| Bio-technology | 1844 | 1303 | 1497 | 309 | 832 | 647 |
| General | 2946 | 885 | 1017 | 153 | 1561 | 652 |
| Others | 6384 | 5942 | 6039 | 748 | 12873 | 11890 |
Number of patent applications filed during 2008-2014 under other and new fields of inventions
| 2008- 2009 | 2009- 2010 | 2010- 2011 | 2011- 2012 | 2012- 2013 | 2013- 2014 | |
| Bio-Medical | 68 | 70 | 22 | 176 | 183 | 163 |
| Bio-Chemistry | 119 | 27 | 10 | 50 | 75 | 72 |
| Bio-Informatics | 4 | – | 10 | 570 | 605 | 636 |
| Physics | 110 | 122 | 71 | 454 | 411 | 460 |
| Civil | 50 | 50 | 46 | 128 | 160 | 196 |
| Textile | 41 | 32 | 34 | 139 | 104 | 141 |
| Metallurgy/ Material Science | 62 | 34 | 08 | 71 | 85 | 152 |
| Agriculture Engineering | 29 | 40 | 20 | 77 | 103 | 112 |
| Polymer Science | 41 | 49 | 19 | 114 | 135 | 80 |
| Micro-Biology | – | – | – | 77 | 113 | 105 |
| Agrochemical | – | – | – | – | 113 | 90 |
| Traditional Knowledge/ Bio/ Chem/Mech | – | – | – | 98/58/02= 158 | 70/115/0= 185 | 22/364/1= 387 |
Number of patent applications granted from 2008 to 2014 under different fields of inventions
| Fields | 2008- 2009 | 2009- 2010 | 2010- 2011 | 2011- 2012 | 2012- 2013 | 2013- 2014 |
| Chemical | 2376 | 1420 | 1899 | 1168 | 1289 | 1111 |
| Drug | 1207 | 530 | 596 | 282 | 344 | 256 |
| Food | 97 | 72 | 84 | 21 | 37 | 51 |
| Electrical | 1140 | 404 | 394 | 228 | 188 | 237 |
| Mechanical | 3242 | 1024 | 1458 | 888 | 749 | 945 |
| Computer/Electronics | 1913 | 1195 | 892 | 584 | 510 | 690 |
| Bio-technology | 1157 | 449 | 165 | 309 | 144 | 220 |
| General | 1318 | 273 | 350 | 153 | 121 | 112 |
| Others | 3611 | 801 | 1668 | 748 | 744 | 904 |
Number of patent applications granted during 2008-2014 under other and new fields of inventions
| 2008- 2009 | 2009- 2010 | 2010- 2011 | 2011- 2012 | 2012- 2013 | 2013- 2014 | |
| Bio-Medical | 19 | 1 | 60 | – | – | – |
| Bio-Chemistry | 198 | 17 | 06 | 09 | 01 | 03 |
| Bio-Informatics | – | – | – | – | 21 | 55 |
| Physics | 65 | 18 | 21 | 13 | 7 | 12 |
| Civil | 22 | 06 | 12 | 06 | 03 | 05 |
| Textile | 26 | 14 | 09 | 09 | 05 | 04 |
| Metallurgy/ Material Science | 40 | 52 | 01 | 11 | 11 | 04 |
| Agriculture Engineering | 04 | 04 | 01 | 01 | 03 | – |
| Polymer Science | 41 | 11 | 22 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| Micro-Biology | – | – | – | – | 07 | 06 |
| Agrochemical | – | – | – | – | 05 | 02 |
| Others | – | 1 | 88 | 34 | – | – |
Read Dr. Kalyan’s note on The Case of Indian Intellectual Property
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