Publications
Patenting Trends in India  ,  Jan  -  June  1998
Dr. A.D.Damodaran

1. Thanks to the  entry of India into the WTO  and the onset of the New IPR Regime , patenting activity in the country has shown a steady increase.  More important , patents filed by non-Indian agencies  have increased substantially . A critical revenue of the period  January - June 1998 highlights the following trends.

Total filed

          Calcutta 1151.
          Mumbai 427
          Chennai 1463
          Delhi  98.
 

Important Applicants

          Babcock & Wilcox , Canal Societe Anonyme ,
          CSIRO , Degussa , Du Pont , Eli Lili
          Fraunhofer ,Engelhard ,GEC , Glaxo
          Hitachi , Matsushita ,  Merck
          Metallgschaft , Philips Electronics
          Philips Petroleum , Samsung , Siemens
          Synthelabo , Hindusthan Lever
          AT&T , AKZO Nobel ,BASF
          British Telecommunications
          Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
          DSM N.V , DOW Chemicals , Haffmann La Roche
          Hoechst ,Hoechst R&D
          Institute Frances Du Petrols ,  IBM
          Kimberly - Clark , Machinenfabrik
          Matsushita Electric , Nokia , Mitsuibishi Denki
          Mitsebishi Heavy Ind , NEC
          Novartis , Novo Nordisk , Qualcom Inc
          Raychem , Robert Bosch
          SMS Schuleman-Siemeg , Schering
          Texas Instruments , Tetra Lavel
          Astra Aktiebolag , Bayer , DRDO , Ciba
          CSIR ,  EXXON , GEC , Good Year
          Honda , ICI , Motorola , Pfizer
          Praxir Technology Inc , Proctor & Gamble
          Smith kline Beecham , Sony Corpn
          SAIL ,

These results need not describe the total situation  , but could be important from a general sense. Barring  CSIR  , SAIL  and DRDO  in the public sector and HLL in the private sector (not to forget that it is part of the Unilevers , UK ) , there is hardly any indigenous agency/ unit/ company which has been presenting  with a meaningful patent portfolio. Obviously there is need to have a very serious  re-look look into the ongoing strategies  of the  Government in encouraging industrial research, specifically  among the native industries - both public and private sectors -  in the light of the New Economics Policy Regime.