Inadequate manpower has led to piling up of nearly 75,000 patent applications awaiting review by the designated authority.
According to Mr. D K Rahut, Deputy Controller of Patents & Designs, Intellectual Property Office, Kolkata, there are only about 85 examiners to look into the applications in the Indian Patent Office.
“The Union Government has appointed 247 examiners who will be joining by the end of this year. This will speed up the process of grant of patent applications,” Mr Rahut told Business Line on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Wednesday.
A majority of the applications pending for grant with the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks were in the fields of mechanical engineering, chemicals segment, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
The number of patents in India has increased from 7,466 in 2005 to 39,400 in 2011.
“The number of applications has been steadily increasing on a year-on-year basis. Coupled with the shortage in manpower, this is leading to a delay in grant of patents to applicants. We are infact currently processing the examination requests of 2008,” he said.
It takes anywhere between three-to-four years for the Patent Office to process the applications at present. “This could come down to one year once these examiners are appointed,” he pointed out.
This apart, the Union government has also allocated over Rs 300 crore for modernization of patent offices and another Rs 50 crore towards digitalization, Mr. Rahut said.