Record Patent Filings: A Milestone, With Questions to Ask

A Record Milestone: 1.43 Lakh Applications

On 12 April 2026, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced on X that patent filings in India had reached a record in 2025-26. IANS and Outlook Business reported the figures: 1,43,729 applications, against 1,10,375 the previous year, an increase of 30.2%. Goyal said: "We are the world's 6th largest patent filer."

The increase, the reports said, came "on account of several initiatives taken by the government to strengthen the intellectual property rights ecosystem."

The Longer Trend Across a Decade

Outlook Business listed a decade of filings. They rose from 45,444 in 2016-17 to 50,660 in 2018-19, 58,503 in 2020-21, 82,208 in 2022-23, 92,163 in 2023-24 and 1,10,375 in 2024-25 before the latest jump. (One row in the original list carries a year label that looks like a typo for 2017-18; we do not use that figure.)

IANS reported that filings had grown by 146% since 2020-21, and that 2025-26 was the eighth consecutive year of growth.

“We are the world's 6th largest patent filer.”

Who Is Filing: Domestic Leadership and Campuses

More than 69% of the 2025-26 applications were filed domestically, according to the reports. IANS gave domestic filings as 98,771, up from 68,201 the year before. That means the growth was driven mostly by Indian applicants. Tamil Nadu led the states with 22,995 filings.

Educational institutions accounted for 36.5% of the total, and about 95% of applications are now filed online.

The government measures credited in the reports include reduced fees for startups, small entities and educational institutions, faster examination of applications, and free help with filing patents, trademarks and designs for Indian startups.

What the Numbers Do and Do Not Show

An honest reading needs several cautions. The IANS article did not report how many patents were granted, so we cannot say how many applications will succeed. A filing is an application, not an invention that has been tested or sold.

The count also says nothing about quality, nor about how many of the patents will be used in products. Finally, the rise could reflect cheaper and easier filing as much as new inventions. Lower fees encourage universities and startups to file, which is a good outcome, but it makes year-to-year comparisons harder.

Our Reading: Three Things to Watch

1. Grants and commercialisation. The more telling measure will be how many of these applications turn into granted patents and then into licensed or manufactured products. That data takes years to arrive.

2. Business filings. With educational institutions accounting for more than a third, the share from companies matters. Industry is where patents become revenue.

3. Geography. Goyal credited innovators from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. A broader spread across states would be a sign of depth.

What This Means for a Company & Boardroom Questions

For a business, the lesson is practical. If you have developed a process, a design or a product feature that sets you apart, the cost and effort of protecting it have fallen. At the same time, a patent is a legal right that must be enforced, and enforcement can be expensive. A sound approach is to ask what you are protecting, from whom and in which markets, and to take advice before filing. Our practical guide in this series covers a step-by-step approach.

A fair summary: The record is a good sign for the research and filing ecosystem, and a reminder that the next challenge is converting filings into products. A rising number of patents will only change the economy if firms build, sell and export what they protect.

Questions a board should ask of its own filings: If your company files patents, compare your own record with the national trend. How many applications did you file in the last three years, and how many were granted? How many are used in products you sell? Which have been licensed to others? If the answer to the last two is "none", the portfolio may be a cost rather than an asset, and it is worth reviewing which rights to keep. Conversely, if you file little but your competitors file a lot, ask whether you are leaving valuable ideas unprotected.

It is also useful to read competitors' published applications. They show what technologies rivals are working on, years before the products appear.

Editorial analysis. Figures as reported by IANS and Outlook Business (12 April 2026); our reading is labelled as such.