Ayush Innovation Sees Eightfold Rise in Patent Filings

1. At a Glance

• What it is: the Status Report on Ayush Related Inventions in India (2014–2026). It records 4,077 patent applications and 711 patent grants for Ayush-related inventions between FY 2014–15 and FY 2025–26. [1]
• Publisher: Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks (CGPDTM), under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The Ministry of Ayush did not publish it. [1]
• Why it matters: it sits where traditional knowledge (TK), intellectual property rights (IPR) and biopiracy meet. It links to TKDL, the 2024 WIPO treaty on IP, genetic resources and TK (GRATK) and India's push to mainstream traditional medicine. [1][2][6]
• Main point: filings and grants have grown sharply, and most of the growth came after COVID. Individuals and educational institutions file most applications, not companies. [1]

2. Why in the News

• The report was released on 16 Oct 2026 during the celebrations of the 11th Ayurveda Day. [1]
• Headline numbers: annual filings rose from 63 (FY 2014–15) to 590 (FY 2025–26), a growth of about 836.5%. This is the "eightfold rise" in the title. [1]
• Maharashtra leads Ayush patent activity with 744 filings and 142 grants. [1]

3. Background & Evolution

• The problem it responds to: wrongful patents on Indian traditional knowledge (biopiracy). India answered this with a prior-art database, the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), run by CSIR. PIB describes it as the first of its kind globally. [4]
• TKDL milestones:
• CSIR marked 20 years of TKDL (so it began in about 2001; that year is inferred from the 20-year mark and was not stated directly in the source). [4]
• At that point, 239 patent applications had been set aside, withdrawn or amended on TKDL evidence. [4]
• By March 2022, TKDL held 4,18,885 formulations: Ayurveda 1,19,269; Unani 2,36,399; Siddha 54,689; Yoga 4,151; Sowa Rigpa 4,377. [3]
• India and France's patent office (INPI) cooperated on giving INPI access to TKDL. [5]

• The later count: since 2009, 375 patent applications have been refused, withdrawn, amended or set aside on TKDL evidence. [2]

• Examination rules: the CGPDTM issued Guidelines for Examination of Ayush-Related Inventions in consultation with the Ministry of Ayush. [2]

• Global framework: WIPO member states adopted the GRATK Treaty on 24 May 2024 in Geneva. [6]
• Ayurveda Day: it moved from Dhanteras (a lunar date that changes every year) to a fixed 23 September from 2025, by a Gazette notification of March 2025. [9]

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Report	Status Report on Ayush Related Inventions in India (2014–2026) [1]
Publisher	CGPDTM, under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry [1]
Period covered	FY 2014–15 to FY 2025–26 [1]
Total filings / grants	4,077 / 711 [1]
Filings, first and last year	63 (FY 2014–15) → 590 (FY 2025–26); +836.5% [1]
Peak filings	606 in FY 2022–23; fell to 299 in FY 2023–24 [1]
Annual grants	3 (FY 2015–16) → 204 (FY 2023–24) [1]
Post-COVID filings (FY 2020–21 to 2025–26)	2,854, i.e. 70% of total [1]
Pre-COVID filings (FY 2014–15 to 2019–20)	1,223 [1]
Post-COVID grants	657, i.e. 92.4% of all grants [1]
Natural persons	2,113 filings (51.9%); 398 grants [1]
Educational institutions	995 filings; 88 grants [1]
Natural persons + educational institutions	76.3% of filings [1]
Corporates and others	700 filings; 176 grants [1]
Small entities / startups	144 / 125 filings [1]
Leading state	Maharashtra: 744 filings, 142 grants [1]
Union MoS (Independent Charge), Ayush	Shri Prataprao Jadhav [1]
Secretary, Ayush	Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha [1]

GRATK Treaty (WIPO, 2024)

• It is the first WIPO treaty on the link between IP, genetic resources (GR) and TK. It is also the first WIPO treaty with provisions specifically for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. [6]
• Mandatory patent disclosure: an applicant must disclose the country of origin of the GR, or the Indigenous Peoples or local community that supplied the TK. If that is unknown, they disclose the source. If nothing is known, they must say so. [7]
• Entry into force: three months after 15 ratifications or accessions. [7]
• First to ratify: Malawi, in December 2024. [8]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Scientific / Technological

• The growth suggests research is being turned into products. Grants rose from 3 to 204 a year. [1]
• Universities filed 995 applications but won only 88 grants. That gap points to weaker patent drafting or less novel claims in academia. [1]

Legal / IPR

• Growth in filings has to be weighed against the risk of patenting TK that is already public. 375 applications have been knocked out on TKDL evidence since 2009. [2]
• The CGPDTM's Ayush examination guidelines make examiners check prior art from traditional texts more consistently. [2]
• The GRATK disclosure rule makes the TKDL-style approach part of international law. [7]

Economic

• Startups (125 filings) and small entities (144) are still a small share of filings. This leaves room for incubation and IP-facilitation support. [1]
• Corporates convert filings into grants at a higher rate (176 grants from 700 filings) than individuals (398 from 2,113). Corporates tend to have better IP capacity. [1]

Social / Equity

• Individual innovators file 51.9% of applications, which shows how widely the activity is spread. [1]
• GRATK recognises Indigenous Peoples and local communities as holders of TK. This raises questions of benefit-sharing with the communities that hold Ayush knowledge. [6]

Geopolitical / Strategic

• TKDL access arrangements with foreign patent offices, such as INPI France, extend India's defence against biopiracy abroad. [5]
• India's TK-protection approach lines up with the new WIPO norm (GRATK) and strengthens its standing in global IP negotiations. [6][7]

Administrative

• Filings swing sharply from year to year: 606 → 299 → 590. Grants in FY 2023–24 (204) peaked in the same year filings fell, probably because of examination backlogs being cleared. That is an inference, not something the report states. [1]
• Patents are granted by the CGPDTM under the Commerce Ministry, while the Ministry of Ayush promotes the sector. The two have to coordinate. [1][2]

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 23 Sep 2025: the 10th Ayurveda Day was held at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, with the theme "Ayurveda for People and Planet". [12]
• 23 Sep 2026: the 11th Ayurveda Day, with the theme "Ayurveda for a Healthier Tomorrow". It was announced for Nagpur. [10][11]
• 16 Oct 2026: the CGPDTM status report on Ayush inventions was released (4,077 filings, 711 grants). [1]
• Context, Dec 2024: Malawi became the first country to ratify GRATK. 38 member states had signed by then. [8]

7. Prelims Hooks

• The Status Report on Ayush Related Inventions (2014–2026) was published by the CGPDTM, under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, not the Ministry of Ayush. [1]
• Ayush patent applications, FY 2014–15 to FY 2025–26: 4,077. Grants: 711. [1]
• Annual filings grew from 63 to 590, about 836.5%. [1]
• Peak filing year: FY 2022–23, with 606 applications. [1]
• 70% of filings and 92.4% of grants came in the post-COVID period (FY 2020–21 to 2025–26). [1]
• Natural persons are the largest group of applicants: 2,113 filings (51.9%). [1]
• Maharashtra leads, with 744 filings and 142 grants. [1]
• The report was released during the 11th Ayurveda Day celebrations. [1]
• Ayurveda Day is now fixed on 23 September (Gazette notification, March 2025). It was earlier observed on Dhanteras. [9]
• TKDL is run by CSIR. PIB calls it the first of its kind globally. [4]
• TKDL holds 4,18,885 formulations. Unani is the largest category (2,36,399). [3]
• 375 patent applications have been refused, withdrawn or amended on TKDL evidence since 2009. [2]
• The WIPO GRATK Treaty was adopted on 24 May 2024 in Geneva. It enters into force after 15 ratifications. [6][7]
• Malawi was the first country to ratify GRATK. [8]

8. What the Eightfold Headline Hides

• The rise starts from a very small number
• In FY 2014–15 there were only 63 filings [1].
• When the starting number is small, even a modest rise shows up as a big percentage. So 836.5% sounds bigger than the real activity behind it.

• The total over 12 years (4,077) is still small for a whole sector [1].

• Most filings have not turned into patents

• 711 grants out of 4,077 filings is a grant rate (the share of applications that become patents) of about 17% [1].
• This rate looks low partly because of timing. Patent examination takes years, and 70% of filings came after FY 2020–21 [1]. Many of these are probably still pending, not rejected.

• So an aspirant should say "many are still pending", not "most Ayush inventions fail".

• Who gets their patents granted differs a lot by type of applicant

• Educational institutions: 88 grants from 995 filings, about 9% [1].
• Natural persons: 398 from 2,113, about 19% [1].
• Corporates and others: 176 from 700, about 25% [1].

• Universities file a lot but get few grants. The filing number may be partly driven by academic credit for "filing a patent", not by inventions that can be sold.

• A patent count measures paperwork, not products

• The report counts filings and grants only [1].
• It does not say how many patents were licensed (rented to a company for use), made into products or tested clinically.
• So the number tells us activity has increased. It does not tell us that Ayush medicine got better.

9. Protecting Traditional Knowledge or Privatising It?

• The strongest objection
• Ayush knowledge grew over centuries in communities and texts. Turning it into private patents, even patents held by Indians, takes something shared and gives one person or company control over it.

• GRATK itself treats Indigenous Peoples and local communities as holders of TK [6]. In this view, a rise in Ayush patents is a quiet form of internal biopiracy.

• What the law already blocks

• Section 3(p) of the Patents Act, 1970 says an invention that "in effect, is traditional knowledge" cannot be patented. Nor can a mere aggregation or duplication of known properties of traditional components [13].
• So the 711 grants should, in law, cover something new built on TK, such as a new process, formulation or device. A classical recipe copied as it is should not get a patent.

• The Act also requires applicants to disclose the source and geographical origin of biological material. This information goes to the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), which handles benefit-sharing [13].

• What the objection gets right

• Disclosing a source is not the same as paying the community.
• Under GRATK, a patent cannot be revoked (cancelled) just because the applicant failed to disclose. Revocation needs fraudulent intent [7].
• So the global rule makes sure the source is named, not that the community is paid.
• The report gives no figure on how many of the 711 grants led to benefit-sharing with any community [1]. That gap is real.

10. Why TKDL Guards Only Part of the Border

• Few patent offices can see the library
• Foreign patent offices get TKDL access only by signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs, contracts promising not to leak the data) [15].
• With Australia's agreement, only 18 patent offices have access [15]. Brazil signed in 2026 [18].

• A biopirate who files in an office without access faces no TKDL check there.

• It is a shield, not a source of income

• TKDL works as prior art (proof the knowledge already existed), so it can stop a wrong patent [13].
• CSIR also files third-party observations and pre-grant oppositions (objections raised before a patent is granted) using TKDL evidence [13].

• But stopping a patent earns nothing for the communities that hold the knowledge.

• The results are small compared with the library's size

• About 375 applications were stopped since 2009 [2], against 4,18,885 formulations held [3].
• This is not proof that TKDL failed. Its main effect is to deter wrong filings, and that effect is not counted.

• But it shows that defence depends on examiners abroad actually searching the database.

• Opening access has a cost

• In 2022 the Cabinet approved opening TKDL to users beyond patent offices, on a paid subscription and in phases [14].
• This helps Indian researchers and startups. It also makes the codified knowledge easier for anyone to study and build on.

11. Why the Global Rule Has Not Started Working Yet

• GRATK needs 15 ratifications
• The treaty comes into force only three months after 15 countries ratify or accede [7]. Ratifying means a country formally agrees to be bound by the treaty.
• The signature window closed on 23 May 2025 [16]. Malawi was the first to ratify, in December 2024 [8].

• We could not confirm whether 15 countries have ratified it. Until they do, the disclosure rule binds no patent office.

• What this means for India

• India already has a disclosure rule in its own law [13]. GRATK mostly catches the rest of the world up to India's standard.
• India gains most when big patent offices with many traditional-medicine filings are bound by the rule. Ratification by those countries matters more than the global count.

12. Who Should Do What Next

• CGPDTM should publish pendency and grant-rate data with the report
• Pendency means how long applications wait for a decision.

• Without it, no one can tell whether the 17% grant rate shows weak inventions or a slow office [1].

• Ministry of Ayush and universities should fix the academic filing gap

• Educational institutions convert only about 9% of filings to grants [1].

• University IP cells (offices that help researchers with patents) need trained patent drafters, so that filings meet the novelty test that Section 3(p) demands [13].

• CSIR should sign up more patent offices to TKDL

• 18 offices is the current reach [15]. Every new office, as with Brazil in 2026 [18], closes one more gap for biopiracy.

• Link patents to benefit-sharing through the NBA

• Source disclosure already flows to the NBA [13].

• The Ministry of Ayush and the NBA could report how many Ayush patents led to benefit-sharing agreements. This would answer the "privatisation" objection with data.

• Create demand, not just patents

• A committee review of the National Ayush Mission recommended getting private insurers to cover Ayush treatment, and bringing Ayush into medical education [17].
• Insurance cover gives patented Ayush products a market. Without buyers, patents stay on paper.

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: 4,077 Ayush patent filings vs 711 grants (FY 2014–15 to 2025–26), a grant rate of about 17%. Educational institutions get only about 9% of their filings granted [1]
• Data: About 375 patent applications stopped worldwide on TKDL evidence since 2009 [2]. Only 18 patent offices have TKDL access [15]
• Report/Committee: Status Report on Ayush Related Inventions in India (2014–2026), CGPDTM [1]; committee review of the National Ayush Mission, which recommended insurance cover for Ayush [17]
• Law/Case: Section 3(p), Patents Act 1970: TK, and aggregation or duplication of known traditional properties, cannot be patented. The Act also requires disclosure of the source of biological material [13]
• Comparison: WIPO GRATK (2024) makes source disclosure mandatory, but allows a patent to be revoked only for fraudulent non-disclosure. India's own law already requires disclosure [7][13]
• Scheme: TKDL (CSIR, 2001), opened beyond patent offices on a paid subscription by the Cabinet in 2022 [14]; National Ayush Mission [17]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Science & Technology (indigenisation of technology; issues relating to intellectual property rights).
• GS-II: Health (issues relating to development of health services); government policies and interventions.
• GS-I (secondary): Indian culture and traditional knowledge systems.
• Possible question stems: 1. The rise in Ayush-related patent filings reflects a shift from protecting traditional knowledge to commercialising it. Critically examine, with reference to biopiracy safeguards. 2. Discuss the significance of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (2024) for India's traditional medicine systems. 3. Individuals and academic institutions dominate Ayush patent filings, but industry converts more filings into grants. What does this say about India's innovation ecosystem, and what reforms are needed?

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• TKDL (CSIR): India's main tool for defending against biopiracy using prior art.
• Patents Act, 1970, Section 3(p): traditional knowledge is not patentable. This was not covered by the sources retrieved; verify it on indiacode.nic.in.
• WIPO GRATK Treaty, 2024: the international disclosure rule for GR and TK.
• Biological Diversity Act and the Nagoya Protocol (CBD): access and benefit-sharing for genetic resources.
• Turmeric, neem and basmati patent disputes: the classic biopiracy cases.
• WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre, Jamnagar: the international institutional push for traditional medicine.
• National Ayush Mission and the Ayush Visa: domestic and medical-tourism parts of Ayush policy.
• TRIPS Agreement (WTO): the global IPR baseline, and the debate between TK protection and TRIPS.

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Biopiracy (Economy): The note's core worry: foreign firms wrongly patenting Indian traditional knowledge, which TKDL and the GRATK treaty try to stop.
• Traditional knowledge (Economy): Ayush systems are traditional knowledge; the report, TKDL and GRATK all concern protecting and recognising it.
• Patent (Economy): The report counts Ayush patent filings and grants; understanding what a patent is explains grant rates and novelty rules.
• Intellectual property rights (Economy): Patents, TKDL and the WIPO treaty all sit within the IPR framework the article is built on.
• Access and benefit sharing (Economy): GRATK disclosure and the National Biodiversity Authority link to sharing benefits with communities who hold the knowledge.
• Nagoya Protocol (Geography): International protocol on genetic resources and benefit-sharing that the note lists as related background for GRATK.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Wrong publisher: the report comes from the CGPDTM (DPIIT, Commerce Ministry), not the Ministry of Ayush. [1]
• "Eightfold" is not 590 ÷ 63: that ratio is about 9.4 times. The headline comes from the 836.5% growth figure. Read the options carefully. [1]
• Peak year mix-up: filings peaked in FY 2022–23 (606), but grants peaked in FY 2023–24 (204), the same year filings fell to 299. [1]
• Base years differ: the filings series starts in FY 2014–15 (63); the grants series starts in FY 2015–16 (3). [1]
• Ayurveda Day date: it is now 23 September, not Dhanteras. The 10th edition was in Goa and the 11th was announced for Nagpur. [9][12][10]
• Grant totals don't add up: the named categories account for 662 of the 711 grants. The excerpt gives no grant figures for small entities or startups, so don't assume the categories sum to 711. [1]