To promote women entrepreneurship in the country, a DIPP proposal will allow expeditious examination of a patent application from a female innovator. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the commerce and industry ministry has floated draft rules to amend the Patent Rules, 2003.

The draft rules say that if the applicant or one of the applicants in a group is female, the application would get an expedited examination by the Indian Patent Office. "The move would help in promoting women entrepreneurship in the country. So far there was no such provision," PTI reported quoting an official. The official further said despite a huge number of women entrepreneurs in the country, "very few" come to seek patents.

Apart from this, DIPP is taking other steps to reduce time to examine and grant patents as well as trademarks, which include hiring more manpower and increase the use of technology. The target is to bring down the patent examination to 18 months by March 2020 from the present 5 to 7 years. The patent approval process includes filing an application, publication of the patent journal, its examination and then grant. If objections are raised or documentation is not properly done, it could delay the process.