Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek Friday said that the government has accorded the highest priority to capacity building and enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) laws. 

"Without innovation and creativity India could not hope to become a 10 trillion-dollar economy by 2030," he said.

Abhishek was speaking at a conference on 'Promoting Innovation, Creativity & IP Generation among Women Entrepreneurs' on the occasion of World IP Day 2018, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with DIPP.

He highlighted several improvements and new initiatives taken post announcement of the IPR Policy in 2016 and said that patent examination, disposal and copyright applications and registration had seen a dramatic increase in the last two years. "Around 17000 patent applications were examined during 2015-16, which improved to around 60000 applications examined during the last fiscal," he said, and added, "Time taken to examine patent applications has also reduced from 13 months to less than a month currently."

However, a lot more needed to be done to create enabling structures to promote creativity among women.

In a video message to the participants, Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, emphasised that IP protection be critical for promoting innovation. He said the government was committed to spurring innovation by focusing on all aspects of IP protection, including legislative, administrative, enforcement and prosecution measures.