Patent filing in India rises 30% in FY26: Nasscom report

The patent ecosystem of India is on a strong upward trajectory, with filings surpassing 1,40,000 in FY26 marking the ninth consecutive year of growth, according to Nasscom's Patent Pulse 2026 report.

Filing activity surged 30.2% in FY26, following a 19.8% rise in FY25, driven largely by domestic applicants whose filings grew 46.2% year-on-year.

Resident filings now account for nearly 70% of total applications, reflecting growing participation from startups, MSMEs, educational institutions, and individual innovators. Computer technology has emerged as a dominant category, with its share in total filings rising to 19.1% in FY26 from 16.3% the previous year.

However, a sharp divergence between filing volumes and grant outcomes has emerged as a key concern.

Patent grants fell significantly to 21,400 in FY26, down from 33,500 in FY25, a steep decline from the peak levels of FY24. Educational institutions, which contribute nearly 40% of all filings, receive only around 10% of grants. Multinational corporations, by contrast, dominate grants, securing more than half despite filing less than a third of applications. This exposes a critical gap in converting academic research into commercially viable patents.

A shortage of examiners at the Indian Patent Office remains a systemic bottleneck, constraining grant timelines and overall processing efficiency.

Nasscom's Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Sangeeta Gupta, stressed the need to move beyond volume metrics: "The next phase of India's innovation journey must be defined not just by the volume of filings, but by the quality, commercialisation, and global relevance of our intellectual property."

The report calls for a strategic pivot from a filing-led approach to a value-driven patent ecosystem with greater emphasis on improving filing-to-grant conversion, strengthening examination capacity, and building commercialisation pipelines through licensing and technology transfer.

Sectors including artificial intelligence, deeptech, biotechnology, semiconductors, and clean energy are identified as priorities for India to cement its position as a global innovation leader.