In India, a request for examination must be filed for a patent application to be considered by the Indian Patent Office. This request can be made by the applicant, or any interested third party and must be filed within 48 months of the earliest priority application. If no request for examination is filed within this time frame, the application is considered abandoned.

There are options for fast-tracking the examination process by filing a request for either Express or Expedited examination.

A request for Express examination can only be made for a PCT national phase application filed in India and must be filed before the expiration of 31 months from the earliest priority application date. If a request for Express examination is made, the controller is required to assign the application to an examiner, who must then prepare a first examination report within one to three months.

A request for Expedited examination is a request from the applicant to expedite the examination process of the application. This request must be accompanied by a request for publication unless the application has already been published or a request for publication has already been filed. Applications for expedited examination are placed in a separate queue and are assigned to an examiner for examination before those in the normal examination queue. An ordinary request for examination can also be converted to a request for expedited examination by paying additional fees.

Only certain parties are eligible to file for expedited examination in India, including start-ups and small entities where at least one applicant is female, Indian government departments and companies, institutions controlled or funded by the government, inventions in sectors specifically notified by the government, and applicants who have selected India as the International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority while filing their PCT application and have a bilateral agreement with a foreign patent office.

The main difference between Express and Expedited examination is that a request for Express examination is made to have the application examined before the expiration of 31 months, while a request for Expedited examination is made to skip the normal queue for examination.

Fee for requests for patent examination in India

Description of requests for examination Natural Person/Start-up Small Entity Others
Request for examination Rs.4000 Rs.10000 Rs.20000
Request for Express examination Rs.5600 Rs.14000 Rs.28000
Request for Expedited examination Rs.8000 Rs.25000 Rs.60000
Converting ordinary request to expediated Rs.4000 Rs.15000 Rs.40000