India has more than 200,000 pending patent applications

Indian patent office has set up four subject specific patent examination groups in its Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai branches to streamline and speed up the handling of patent applications.
 
While chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences and allied subjects will be looked after by one group, biotechnology, microbiology, and biochemistry will be handled by another. The third group specialises in electrical and electronics, and the forth one handles patent applications related to mechanical inventions, textile and civil engineering related subjects.
 
Replying to a Parliamentary query, Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the groups will streamline the processing of patent applications being filed in   various scientific fields.
 
India had 237,671 patent applications pending before the four patent offices on April 1. While Delhi had the most (88,297) pending applications, Chennai followed with 78,405 pending patent applications.
 
The minister said that the government has taken a series of measures to make patent application process more transparent.  "The facilities   for quick and efficient access to all types of data and information regarding patent processing are available on the official website for the benefit of users. Dynamic utilities for knowing current   status of patent applications and grant have been made available online. A stock and flow-based dynamic utility for patent has been put in place to provide the applicants/ stakeholders with the facility on real time basis   to   view   the  various stages of application processing", she said.
    
The patent offices have also introduced an e-register facility to share all information of patents including renewals, assignments and other legal status with the public.
 
The minister also pointed out that the department has introduced the system of printing QR Code(s)  on the  application  filing  receipts  to enable the stakeholders to verify the contents of the above   correspondence issued by   respective offices and, thus, enhance transparency in the public delivery system.