India has secured a spot in the global top 10 for all three major intellectual property (IP) rights—patents, trademarks, and industrial designs in the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) 2024.

WIPI was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) underscoring global trends in intellectual property (IP) filings.

India continues to solidify its place as a global leader in the IP landscape by showing substantial progress and marking new milestones in IP activity.

The report reveals significant growth in patent, trademark, and industrial design applications across top economies.

India recorded the fastest growth in patent (+15.7 per cent) applications in 2023 among the top 20 origins, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth.

India ranks sixth globally for patents with 64,480 applications, with resident filings accounting for over half of all submissions (55.2 per cent), a first for the country.

The patent office also granted 149.4 per cent more patents in 2023 compared to the previous year, underlining the country’s fast-evolving IP ecosystem, the report revealed.

The report further indicates a steady rise (36.4 per cent) in India’s industrial design applications, which aligns with increasing emphasis on product design, manufacturing, and creative industries within India. The top three sectors –Textiles and Accessories, Tools and Machines, and Health and Cosmetics — made up almost half of all design filings.

India ranked fourth globally in trademark filings, with a 6.1 per cent increase in 2023.

Nearly 90 per cent of these filings were by residents, with key sectors including Health (21.9per cent), Agriculture (15.3 per cent ), and Clothing (12.8 per cent ) leading the way. India’s trademark office holds the second-largest number of active registrations worldwide, with over 3.2 million trademarks in force, reflecting the country’s strong position in global brand protection.

The report highlights continued growth in global intellectual property filings, reflecting innovation resilience despite economic challenges. Key findings show a record of 3.55 million patent applications filed worldwide in 2023, up 2.7per cent from 2022 with notable contributions from leading economies in Asia.

This increase was largely driven by residents in China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, and India.

The report also revealed that between 2018 and 2023, patent and industrial design applications more than doubled, while trademark filings increased by 60per cent, reflecting the country’s growing emphasis on IP and innovation.

India’s patent-to-GDP ratio also saw significant growth, rising from 144 to 381 in the past decade, indicating that IP activity is scaling alongside economic expansion.