MAKE IN INDIA

The new government has announced the “Make in India” initiative (http://www.makeinindia.com/).  The objective of this initiative is to bring investment to India by encouraging investors to manufacture in India.    How the initiative plays out, only time will tell.  From the standpoint of foreign companies, the question of intellectual property protection in the country will undoubtedly play an important role.  The new government will need to address this seriously.  The web site mentioned above has page devoted to intellectual property.   The page talks about the extensive digitization efforts of the Trade Marks, Patents and Designs offices, the accession to the Madrid Protocol and other important strides in India’s intellectual property regime.  However, more will need to be done on the improving the intellectual property regime to allay fears of overseas investors.  In particular, there is no discussion on the rampant problem of counterfeiting.  In a recent survey, amongst 30 countries the Global Intellectual Property Centre (a group within the US Chamber of Commerce), India was ranked a lowly 29.   The Global Intellectual Property Centre stated that the government was making the right noises but more needed to be done especially to address online and physical piracy.  We hope that the “Make in India” initiative will become reality through positive improvements in intellectual property regime.