India’s Policy Shift towards Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Self-Reliance: Implications for India’s Intellectual Property Policy

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are becoming key assets for competitiveness and addressing developmental challenges. It thus becomes imperative for a country to strategically protect its IPRs and create roadmaps for the development of this institution. The Indian government in recent years has taken a salutary paradigm shift by bringing innovation and entrepreneurship at the center stage of its economic development and addressing developmental challenges. The National Intellectual Property Rights Policythat came out in 2016 (NIPR 2016) can be seen as part of this innovation-driven inclusive growth approach. India becoming one of the most aggressive globally in creating new start-ups is among some of the visible outcomes of the policy shift. The IPR policy becomes more important in this new context. The paper revisits the NIPR 2016 to see to what extent it is an enabler forresearch, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the country. The pathways that it underscores for strengthening the IPR institution in the country, positions undertaken on contentious issues, and the long-term vision that it draws are examined. What types of further interventions/pathways may be required that can enrich the IPR ecosystem and create positive externality in the economy and society are discussed. The study proposes the need for framing a new IPR policy in the context of the fast-changinginnovation dynamics and the increasing role of IPR in this evolving landscape.