When Should You Get a Patent in India? Timing, Fees and Deadlines

File before you tell anyone. India grants a patent only to an invention that is new on the date you file, and its grace period is narrow. A provisional application, costing a startup ₹1,600, fixes that date and gives you 12 months to finish the full specification. After that, deadlines run at 18 months (publication) and 31 months (request for examination).

The right moment: before the first public disclosure

The Patents Act, 1970 defines an invention as a new product or process that involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application^[1]. "New" is judged on the date you file. A product launch, a pitch deck sent to investors without an NDA, a conference talk or a journal paper can all count against you.

The safety net is small. Section 31 covers two situations: display at an exhibition notified by the government, and a paper the inventor reads before a learned society. Even then, the application must follow within 12 months^[2]. Since 2024, an applicant who relies on it must file Form 31 under rule 29A^[3]. A demo on social media or a sale to a first customer is not covered.

So the practical answer to "when" is: once the invention works on paper and before it leaves the building. You do not need a finished product. You need a description clear enough that a skilled person could make it.

Check that it can be patented at all

Section 3 of the Act lists what is not an invention. It excludes mathematical and business methods, a computer programme per se and algorithms. It also excludes methods of agriculture, medical treatment of humans or animals, and a new form of a known substance that does not improve its known efficacy^[2]. A software startup should therefore claim the technical effect of its system, not the code. If the idea falls wholly inside section 3, spend the money on trade secrets or a trademark instead.

Provisional or complete: what to file first

A provisional specification describes the invention without final claims. Section 9 then gives 12 months to file the complete specification; miss it and the application is deemed abandoned^[2]. Filing the complete specification after a provisional costs nothing extra if it stays within 30 pages and 10 claims^[4].

Use a provisional when the product is still changing or a launch date is close. Go straight to a complete specification when the design is frozen. You can then ask for early publication and examination at once, instead of waiting up to 12 months to file the claims.

The clock after you file

Every deadline below runs from the filing or priority date. Missing the examination request is the costliest error, because section 11B bars examination of any application without one^[2].

Publication matters for enforcement. From the publication date the applicant has the same privileges as if the patent had been granted then, but can sue for infringement only after grant^[2]. An applicant who wants that protection sooner can ask for early publication on Form 9, which costs a startup ₹2,500^[4].

A worked timeline

Take a hardware startup that files a provisional on 1 February 2026. The complete specification is due by 1 February 2027. The application falls due for publication on 1 August 2027, and the Journal ordinarily carries it within a month, unless the startup asks for early publication. The last day to request examination is 1 September 2028. If granted, the patent runs until 1 February 2046.

What a patent costs in 2026

The Patents Rules put individuals, startups, small entities and educational institutions in one fee column; everyone else pays five times as much for most items^[4]. A small entity is a business whose investment stays within the medium-enterprise limit of the MSMED Act, 2006. A startup is one recognised under the Startup India initiative^[11]. Paper filing costs more: ₹1,750 instead of ₹1,600 for a startup application^[4].

For a startup with up to 10 claims, filing, early publication and expedited examination come to ₹12,100. Keeping the patent alive for all 20 years adds ₹76,800 in renewals. A large company on the normal route pays ₹28,000 up front and ₹3,84,000 in renewals. Paying renewals for four or more years in advance online cuts the bill by 10%^[9].

Professional fees for drafting and filing are separate. Under the Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme, the government pays an empanelled facilitator ₹15,000 at filing and ₹25,000 at final disposal of a startup's patent application^[12]. The startup still pays the official fees. The current version of the scheme, in force from 1 April 2023, runs up to 31 March 2026^[12]. IP India's SIPP page lists no later extension, so confirm the scheme is running before you count on it^[13].

When to pay for expedited examination

Rule 24C lets certain applicants jump the queue by filing Form 18A online. Startups and small entities qualify, as do government departments and government companies. So do individual applicants with at least one woman among them, and PCT applicants who chose the Indian office as search authority^[14]. The request must come with a publication request if the application is not yet published^[14].

The rule sets tight internal deadlines. The examiner should report ordinarily within one month of reference and no later than two. The Controller should dispose of the application within three months of the last reply^[14]. A startup that grows past the threshold after filing keeps its expedited request^[14].

The numbers show why founders use it. In 2024-25 the office received 7,154 expedited requests, 1,026 of them from startups, and granted 3,349 patents through the route. The office says most expedited cases reach grant or final disposal in about a year, against a few years on the normal route^[5]. Pay for it when an investor round, a licensing deal or a copycat makes a granted patent worth more now than later.

What the 2024 and 2025 rule changes mean for timing

The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2024 were notified on 15 March 2024^[8]. They shortened the main deadline and cut some paperwork.

The Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2025, notified on 25 November 2025 as G.S.R. 865(E), replaced Chapter XIV-A. They set up electronic complaints on Form 32 and adjudication of penalties for contraventions of sections 120, 122 and 123^[15]. They do not change filing deadlines.

Who is filing, and how long the queue is

Filings are rising faster than examinations. India received 1,10,375 patent applications in 2024-25, up 19.75%, and 68,201 came from Indian applicants^[5]. The office examined 15,726 applications and granted 33,504 patents, down from 1,03,057 grants in 2023-24. It inducted 407 new examiners in January 2025, who were expected to begin full examination work in the second half of 2025-26^[5].

Indian companies that file abroad show what early filing looks like in practice. The table lists six companies from the office's top ten Indian filers of international PCT applications in 2024-25^[5], with figures from The Company Check's records.

Size is not the pattern. Kinetic Green reported a loss of ₹80.19 crore in FY2024-25 and still ranked sixth on that list^[19][5]. Ola Electric, with a loss of ₹1,833 crore in FY2025-26, ranked fifth^[18]. A filing record says more about how a company guards its engineering than about its profits.

What to do next

1. Write a one-page invention note with drawings and date it. Keep it confidential.
2. Search the IP India patent database and Google Patents for prior art before paying a drafter.
3. File a provisional before any launch, pitch or paper, and diarise the 12-month complete-specification deadline.
4. Decide on foreign filing by month 10, and get a section 39 permit if you will file abroad first.
5. If you are a recognised startup or MSME, file Form 28 to claim the lower fee, and price expedited examination against your funding timeline.
6. Diarise the 31-month examination deadline, the renewal dates and the three-year Form 27 cycle the day you file.