Getting a patent in India takes years rather than months, and most of that time is spent waiting. What matters is that the handful of steps which carry deadlines are done on time, because almost none of them can be undone.
This guide walks through the whole route, in order, with the deadline that applies at each stage.
Quick reference
| Stage | When | Deadline? |
|---|---|---|
| File the application | Day one | Provisional buys twelve months |
| Complete specification | If you filed provisional | Twelve months, not extendable |
| Publication | 18 months from priority | Automatic, or request it early |
| Request examination | Any time up to the deadline | 31 months from priority |
| Examination report | When an examiner reaches the file | — |
| Reply to the report | After the report issues | Six months, extendable by three |
| Hearing | If objections remain | Attend; submissions within 15 days |
| Pre-grant opposition | Any time before grant | Third parties only |
| Grant | Once objections are cleared | Renewals start from year three |
1. Filing
You can file a provisional specification or a complete one.
A provisional application describes the invention without final claims. It secures a priority date and gives you twelve months to develop the invention, test the market, or raise money before committing. Those twelve months are not extendable. If the complete specification is not filed in time, the application is gone and the provisional cannot be revived.
A complete specification is the full document — description, claims, abstract, drawings. Filing complete from the start makes sense where the invention is already fully worked out.
One thing that catches Indian residents: if you intend to file abroad first, or at the same time, you generally need permission before doing so. Filing in India first, and waiting six weeks, is the other way to satisfy that requirement.
2. Publication
The application is published eighteen months after the earliest priority date. Until then it is not public and cannot be found on the patent office’s search.
Publication does two things. Your specification becomes readable by anyone, competitors included. And your provisional rights start running from this date — you cannot sue on them until the patent is granted, but damages can reach back.
You can ask for early publication, which usually brings it forward to within a few weeks. Worth doing if you want the clock started, or if you need a granted patent sooner and want examination to begin earlier. Worth avoiding if you would rather competitors did not see the specification yet.
3. Request for examination
Nothing is examined until you ask. This is the step people miss, and missing it is fatal — the application is simply treated as withdrawn.
The deadline is thirty-one months from the earliest priority date for applications filed on or after 15 March 2024. Applications filed before that date keep the older forty-eight month deadline.
This matters more than it sounds, because a great deal of what is published about Indian patent practice — including guidance still ranking well in search — quotes forty-eight months without qualification. For anything filed recently, that is wrong by well over a year.
Expedited examination is available to certain applicants, including startups, small entities, female applicants, and applicants from countries with which India has an arrangement. Where you qualify it can cut years off the wait, and it is usually worth taking.
4. Examination and the report
An examiner reviews the application and issues a First Examination Report. Expect objections under some combination of:
- Novelty and inventive step against prior art the examiner has found
- Patentability — whether the subject matter is excluded from patenting at all, which in India catches software, business methods, mathematical methods, plants and animals, methods of treatment and a good deal else
- Sufficiency and clarity of the description and claims
- Formal requirements — documents, declarations and translations
The report is not a rejection. Most applications receive one, and most objections are answerable.
5. Replying
You have six months from the date of the report to put the application in order. That can be extended by three further months, but the extension must be requested and paid for; it does not happen on its own.
“In order” means every objection resolved — not merely answered. In practice a reply combines argument with amendment: narrowing claims to distinguish the prior art, correcting the description, filing whatever documents were asked for.
Updated details of your corresponding foreign applications are also due at this point, within three months of the report. Since the 2024 amendment these are filed twice — at filing and after the report — rather than being refreshed every six months as the old practice required.
If the window closes without the application being in order, it is abandoned. Recovery means going to court, and courts have helped applicants let down by their advisers rather than by their own inattention. It is not something to rely on.
6. Hearing
Where objections survive the reply, the Controller lists a hearing. You will be told what remains outstanding.
Hearings can be attended by video. Written submissions are normally filed within fifteen days afterwards, and they carry real weight — often more than what was said on the day, because they are what the Controller works from when writing the decision.
7. Pre-grant opposition
From publication until the patent is granted, anyone can oppose the application. There is no standing requirement, which makes this a common tactic from competitors.
The grounds are broad, covering everything from lack of novelty and obviousness to wrongful obtaining and non-disclosure of the source of biological material.
Since the 2024 amendment, applications facing a pre-grant opposition are meant to be examined and disposed of on an expedited basis, which cuts down the delay that opposition used to buy.
8. Grant
Once objections are cleared, the patent is granted and published in the journal. A certificate issues.
Three things follow immediately:
Renewals. Annual fees are payable from the third year and run for the life of the patent. Miss one and the patent lapses. Paying at least four years in advance electronically attracts a ten per cent discount.
Post-grant opposition. For twelve months from publication of the grant, an interested person can oppose. Until that passes, the patent is not entirely settled.
Statements of working. You will need to tell the patent office whether the patent is being worked in India. Since the 2024 amendment this is once for every three financial years, beginning with the financial year after the year of grant — not annually, as it was before.
How long does it take?
There is no reliable figure, and anyone offering one is guessing. The queue for examination is the dominant variable and it differs sharply by technical field. Filing the request for examination early, and taking expedited examination where you qualify, are the two levers that actually move the date.
What you can control is not losing the application to a missed deadline. The four that matter are the twelve months from provisional to complete, the thirty-one months to request examination, the six months to reply to the report, and the annual renewals after grant.
Frequently asked questions
What is the procedure for grant of a patent in India? File the application, wait for publication at eighteen months, request examination within thirty-one months of priority, respond to the examination report within six months of its issue, attend a hearing if objections remain, and the patent is granted once they are cleared. Third parties can oppose at any point between publication and grant.
How long do I have to request examination of a patent in India? Thirty-one months from the earliest priority date, for applications filed on or after 15 March 2024. Applications filed before that date keep the earlier forty-eight month deadline. If no request is filed, the application is treated as withdrawn.
What happens if I miss the deadline to reply to the examination report? The application is treated as abandoned. The six-month period can be extended by three months if you ask and pay before it expires, but once the full period has run there is no administrative route back — only an application to court, which succeeds in limited circumstances.
Can I file a patent application abroad before filing in India? Not freely, if you are resident in India. You either obtain permission first, or file in India and wait six weeks before filing abroad. Filing abroad without doing either carries serious consequences, including the Indian application being refused.
When do patent renewal fees start in India? From the third year, and annually thereafter for the life of the patent. A ten per cent discount applies where at least four years are paid in advance electronically.
Can someone stop my patent being granted? Yes. Between publication and grant anyone at all can file a pre-grant opposition, and no standing is required. After grant, an interested person has twelve months from publication of the grant to bring a post-grant opposition.
Useful official resources
- IP India — patents — forms, fees and the patent office journal
- InPASS — patent search — check the status of any published application
See our related notes on what each application status means and filing a patent in India.
Working out where an application stands, or facing an examination report with the clock running? Talk to us.