RT team
India’s tech companies, start-ups, and universities are eager to carve out a share of the Generative AI (GenAI) market, yet the country still has significant ground to cover. According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), India filed 1,350 GenAI patents from 2014 to 2023, placing fifth globally behind China (38,210), the US (6,276), South Korea (4,155), and Japan (3,409). India outpaced the UK (714 patents) and Germany (708) in GenAI patent publications.
Top contributors to GenAI patents over the last decade include Chinese firms Tencent, Ping An Insurance Group, and Baidu. Although no Indian companies made the top 20 GenAI patent owners list, notable Indian patents include RN Chidakashi Technologies’ retail AI assistant solution and Tata Consultancy Services’ AI tool for contract lifecycle management.
India has experienced the highest annual growth rate in GenAI patent publications, averaging 56%, though from a smaller base, representing only 3% of total GenAI patents. In contrast, China boasts a 50% growth rate from a larger base.
Between 2014 and 2023, 54,358 GenAI patent families were published, with 89% (48,398) still active by the end of 2023. Advances in AI and deep learning have significantly increased GenAI patent activity, with the introduction of transformer models in 2017 and apps like ChatGPT in 2022 contributing to this surge. The share of GenAI patents among all AI patents rose from 4.2% in 2017 to 6.1% in 2023. Over 25% of all GenAI patents and 45% of scientific papers in this field were published in 2023.
Interestingly, OpenAI, synonymous with GenAI, did not file any patents until early 2023, likely due to its non-profit origins. Shailendra Bhandare, Partner at Khaitan & Co, notes the importance of India’s patent regime maturity and eligibility framework for GenAI inventions. He emphasized that a clear framework is crucial for fostering AI-related innovations.
WIPO data also highlights the maturity of China’s patent system, with over 40,000 GenAI patents filed domestically from 2014 to 2023. The US followed with over 10,700 patents filed domestically, while 98% of India’s 1,350 patents were filed within its jurisdiction.
