Getting a Patent in India
A step-by-step guide to the utility patent process, with official fees
Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
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Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
A patent application in India moves through a defined sequence of stages, and each one has its own timing and its own requirements.
This page walks through that sequence from start to finish. Any rupee amounts shown are the government (official) fees payable to the Indian Patent Office — they are set by law and are the same for every applicant in a given category.
Fees are shown at the e-filing rate, which is how applications are filed in practice. Filing on paper costs about 10% more.
Any amounts shown on this page are official government fees only — the statutory charges payable to the Indian Patent Office. They are not the cost of the work.
Professional fees for the searching, drafting, filing, replying and appearing at each stage are charged separately and in addition. Please get in touch for a quote for your invention.
Before any money is spent on drafting, we search the published patent literature and other public disclosures worldwide to see what already exists. The search tells you two things: whether your invention is likely to be novel and inventive, and where the closest existing art sits — which directly shapes how the claims should be written.
The patent specification is the legal document that defines your invention: a full description of how it works, drawings where needed, and the claims — the numbered statements at the end that set the actual boundaries of your monopoly. The claims are what you can enforce, and they can never be broadened after filing, so this is the stage that determines the value of everything that follows.
The application is filed electronically with the Patent Office. The date of filing becomes your priority date, and from this point onward the invention is protected against later filings by others. Every subsequent deadline in this guide is counted from this date.
If a provisional was filed first, the complete specification that follows carries no further filing fee — only the charges above for any excess pages or claims.
Your application is published in the Official Journal automatically, 18 months from the priority date. Publication is what makes the application public, and examination cannot happen before it. No action or fee is needed for this to happen.
You may instead request early publication on Form 9, which brings publication forward to roughly 4–6 weeks. This is worth doing when you want the process moving sooner — and it is required if you are going down the expedited examination route at Step 5.
Nothing happens to your application until you ask for it to be examined. This request is filed on Form 18, and the deadline is strict: 31 months from the priority date or the filing date, whichever is earlier. Miss it and the application is treated as withdrawn, with no way back.
The 31-month deadline applies to applications filed on or after 15 March 2024. Applications filed before that date retain the earlier 48-month deadline.
Instead of Form 18, eligible applicants may file Form 18A for expedited examination. This is the single most effective way to shorten the process: the first report often issues within 2–8 months rather than years, and grant can follow within roughly a year of filing. It must be filed electronically, and the application must already be published (see Step 4).
The Examiner studies the application and issues the FER — a written report setting out every objection. These usually include prior art said to destroy novelty or inventive step, objections to the form of the claims, and formal or procedural points. Receiving an FER with many objections is completely normal and is not a sign the application is in trouble; almost every application gets one.
We respond with written arguments distinguishing your invention from the cited prior art, and amend the claims where that strengthens the position. The whole application must be put in order for grant within 6 months from the date the FER issues.
If objections survive the written response, the Controller offers a hearing before refusing the application — you are entitled to be heard. Your patent agent attends and argues the case, usually by video conference. Written submissions follow within 15 days of the hearing.
A second or further hearing may be scheduled where fresh objections arise or the Controller wants a point developed further. There is no fixed limit on how many hearings there may be, and no government fee for attending any of them.
Once the Controller is satisfied, the patent is granted, published in the Official Journal, and entered in the Register of Patents. Your rights run for 20 years from the filing date — not from the grant date — and only now can you sue to enforce them.
A granted patent must be renewed annually to stay in force. Renewal fees start from the third year and are payable before each anniversary of the filing date. Where the patent is granted late, the accumulated renewals for the intervening years fall due together after grant. Miss a renewal and the patent ceases — restoration is possible within 18 months, but it is neither cheap nor certain.
Government fees only, at e-filing rates. Currently showing: Individual, Startup, Small Entity or Educational Institution.
| Stage | Fee |
|---|---|
| Patentability search | Nil |
| Drafting | Nil |
| Filing the applicationForm 1 | ₹1,600 |
| Early publication (optional)Form 9 | ₹2,500 |
| Request for examinationForm 18 | ₹4,000 |
| Expedited examination (optional, in place of Form 18)Form 18A | ₹8,000 |
| Responding to the FER | Nil |
| Hearing | Nil |
| Grant | Nil |
| Typical total to grantOrdinary route: filing + examination | ₹5,600 |
| Typical total to grantExpedited route: filing + early publication + Form 18A | ₹12,100 |
Totals assume a specification within 30 pages and 10 claims, and no extensions or adjournments. Renewal fees from year 3 onward are additional. Professional fees are quoted separately.
On the ordinary route, expect roughly 3 to 5 years from filing to grant. Most of that is spent waiting in the examination queue rather than doing anything.
On the expedited route, grant within 1 to 2 years is realistic. If you are a woman applicant, a startup, a small entity or an eligible institution, this route is open to you, and it is almost always worth taking.
About these figures. The fees shown are the official fees prescribed in the First Schedule to the Patents Rules, 2003, as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024, in force from 15 March 2024. They are shown at e-filing rates; paper filing costs approximately 10% more. Fees are revised from time to time — the amounts here were checked in July 2026, and we will confirm the current figures before any step is taken on your behalf. Professional fees are additional to all of the above.
This page is a general guide to the procedure and is not legal advice on any particular application. Timelines other than statutory deadlines are indicative and depend on the technology field and the workload at the Patent Office. Please get in touch to discuss your invention.