The innovation happening in India continues to be claimed elsewhere
In the technology corridors of Bengaluru and beyond, a quiet transformation is underway: artificial intelligence is lifting India's global capability centers from the realm of routine execution into genuine invention. The engineers and developers who once processed data are now creating patents, trade secrets, and proprietary systems for some of the world's largest corporations. Yet the fruits of this innovation are often claimed elsewhere, as an understaffed and slow-moving patent system pushes multinationals to file their intellectual property through American and European parent entities. India stands at a threshold — capable of becoming a true innovation origin point, but held back by institutional infrastructure that has not yet caught up with the ambition of its talent.
- AI is rapidly dissolving the boundary between India's offshore cost centers and genuine innovation hubs, with executives from Daimler Truck, Kimberly-Clark, and Epsilon reporting measurable increases in patent and IP creation.
- India's global capability centers already generated $98.4 billion in revenue last fiscal year — four years ahead of projections — and the country recorded over 90,000 patent filings in FY2024, signaling real momentum.
- A structural contradiction undermines the progress: companies like Kimberly-Clark file zero patents locally, routing IP through U.S. and European parent entities because India's process takes twice as long and approval can stretch into years.
- The Indian Patent Office is chronically understaffed, burdened by backlogs, high legal costs, and procedural ambiguity that make local filing impractical for multinationals operating at speed.
- Incremental reforms — online filing functions, centralized application allocation, and video hearings — are beginning to ease the bottleneck, but executives warn the system must scale far faster to capture the IP being born on Indian soil.
Inside India's technology hubs, the nature of the work is changing. What once meant processing data and handling routine tasks is giving way to something more ambitious — the creation of patents, proprietary products, and intellectual property for some of the world's largest corporations. Executives from Daimler Truck, Kimberly-Clark, and Publicis Groupe's Epsilon gathered at a Reuters summit in Bengaluru to describe how artificial intelligence is making this shift possible: by absorbing the mechanical parts of coding and problem-solving, AI is freeing workers to do the harder, more creative work of invention.
The numbers reflect a genuine transformation. Indian global capability centers generated $98.4 billion in revenue last fiscal year, hitting industry projections four years ahead of schedule. Patent filings across India rose 11.3 percent to over 90,000 in fiscal 2024, with nearly half originating from multinational companies. Radhakrishnan Kodakkal of Daimler Truck's India Innovation Center said plainly that the volume of patents and trade secrets being created is already rising — and AI will only accelerate the trend.
But a significant complication shadows these figures. Much of the intellectual property being created in India is never filed there. Deena Dayalan of Kimberly-Clark was direct: the company files no patents from India at all. The local process takes five to six months just to initiate — roughly double the U.S. timeline — and approval stretches into years. The Indian Patent Office is understaffed, legal costs are high, and procedural rules remain ambiguous. For companies moving fast, filing locally makes little practical sense.
Intellectual property lawyer Harsh Kaushik acknowledged the chronic backlog problem while pointing to signs of progress: more functions have moved online, application allocation has been centralized, and video hearings have expanded access. These are incremental gains, but meaningful ones at scale. Pratik Nath of Epsilon India sees the foundation for deeper IP work already in place — the talent, the infrastructure, the AI tools. What remains is for India's patent system to match the pace of the innovation happening within its borders. Until it does, the ideas being born in India will continue to be claimed somewhere else.
Inside India's technology centers, something is shifting. The work that once meant processing data and handling routine tasks is giving way to something more ambitious: the creation of new products, new patents, new intellectual property that belongs to some of the world's largest corporations. Artificial intelligence is making this transition possible, according to executives from companies like Daimler Truck, Kimberly-Clark, and Publicis Groupe's Epsilon who gathered at a Reuters summit in Bengaluru to discuss the future of innovation in India.
For decades, India's global capability centers—the offshore technology hubs where multinational companies concentrate their engineering and technical talent—have been understood as cost-saving operations. Cheaper labor, skilled workers, lower overhead. But that narrative has been incomplete. These centers have quietly evolved into genuine innovation engines, places where companies develop proprietary technology and file patents. Now, with AI handling the mechanical parts of coding and routine problem-solving, the people working in these centers are being freed to do the harder, more creative work: inventing things that matter.
Radhakrishnan Kodakkal, who heads Daimler Truck's Innovation Center in India, put it plainly at the summit: the number of patents, intellectual property filings, and trade secrets being created by Indian capability centers is already rising. And AI will accelerate that trend. The evidence is there in the numbers. Last fiscal year, Indian global capability centers generated $98.4 billion in revenue—hitting industry projections four years ahead of schedule, according to a report by Nasscom and consultancy Zinnov. Patent filings across India rose 11.3 percent to over 90,000 in fiscal 2024, with nearly half coming from multinational companies.
But there's a complication hiding in those figures. Much of the intellectual property being created in India never gets filed there. Instead, it travels. Companies file their patents through parent entities in the United States and Europe, a workaround driven by frustration with India's patent system. Deena Dayalan, global head of digital operations and cloud transformation at Kimberly-Clark, was direct about it: the company doesn't file patents from India at all. The process takes five to six months here—roughly double the time required in the U.S.—and approval takes years more. The Indian Patent Office is understaffed, with far fewer examiners than the U.S. system employs. Legal costs are high. Procedural rules are ambiguous. For companies trying to move fast, filing locally makes little sense.
Harsh Kaushik, an intellectual property lawyer based in New Delhi, acknowledged the chronic problem: backlogs and manpower shortages at the Patent Office have long slowed examination and approval. But he also noted that change is underway. The Patent Office has moved more functions online, centralized how applications are allocated, and expanded video hearings to make the process more accessible. These are incremental improvements, the kind that matter when you're trying to file thousands of patents.
Executives see the foundation already in place. Pratik Nath, managing director of Epsilon India, expects more intellectual property work to happen in India as these centers mature. The infrastructure is there. The talent is there. The AI tools that can automate routine work are there. What remains is for India's patent system to catch up—to move faster, to staff itself adequately, to make filing locally as straightforward as filing abroad. Until then, the innovation happening in India will continue to be claimed elsewhere, a kind of intellectual property brain drain that no amount of AI acceleration can fix on its own.
Citações Notáveis
The number of patents, intellectual property, and trade secrets created by Indian capability centers is already increasing, and AI would accelerate it.— Radhakrishnan Kodakkal, head of Daimler Truck Innovation Center India
At Kimberly-Clark, we do not do any patent filing from India. Whatever we do, we do through the U.S. because of the difficulty here.— Deena Dayalan, global head of digital operations and cloud transformation at Kimberly-Clark
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
So these Indian tech centers are becoming innovation hubs now, not just back-office operations?
That's the shift happening. They've been evolving for years, but AI is accelerating it. When routine coding and problem-solving get automated, the people there move into more complex work—designing new products, building proprietary systems. That's where the real value is.
But if they're creating all these patents, why does it matter that they file them in the U.S. instead of India?
Because it signals where the power sits. If you file a patent in India, you're claiming that innovation as Indian. If you file it in Delaware or Munich, you're claiming it as American or German. It's not just bureaucracy—it's about who gets credited, who owns the intellectual property ecosystem.
The article mentions the Patent Office is improving. Is that enough to change the behavior?
Maybe eventually. But companies move fast. If filing in the U.S. takes three months and filing in India takes six, plus years of waiting for approval, the math is simple. You'd need India to be genuinely faster and cheaper, not just slightly less slow.
What does this mean for India's economy long-term?
If India can fix its patent system, it becomes a real innovation center—not just a place where work happens, but where intellectual property is owned and controlled. That's generational wealth. Right now, the innovation is being created there but claimed elsewhere. That's the gap.