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In a bid to boost innovation and modernise the industry, the Patent Office has granted a record 1,03,057 patents in the last fiscal (FY24), the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.  

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, said that several steps have been taken by the government to further strengthen the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ecosystem in India.

"Owing to fee concessions in patent applications, there has been a significant increase in Patent filings by startups, MSMEs and educational Institutes," the minister told the Lok Sabha in a reply to a question.

Similarly, 75 per cent fee concessions at each stage of prosecution of design applications are extended to startups and MSMEs and 50 per cent to Trade Mark application filing.

The Centre launched the National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) in December 2021 to impart IP awareness and basic training in educational institutes across the country.

Minister Prasada said that more than 2 million people have been trained about IPRs to date. The Scheme for Facilitating Start-Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) was launched in 2016 to support startups in safeguarding their IP rights (patents, trademarks and designs) by providing the opportunity "to avail pro bono facilitation by empanelled IP experts and facilitation fees of the IP experts to be borne by the government".

After the scheme, there has been a significant increase in IP applications by startups. As of June 23, 2024, the Office of Geographical Indications Registry has registered a total of 643 GI applications in the country, the government said.