Gujarat: Intellectual property is the new wealth creator, businessmen say

Even as intellectual property has become a cornerstone of companies worldwide, stakeholders feel that despite being entrepreneurial by nature, Gujarati businessmen have ignored this factor, to their detriment.

Only a handful of local companies such as Troikaa and eInfochips have demonstrated that benefits of intellectual property outweigh financial returns from other assets such as factories, land and real estate.

Troikaa CMD Ketal Patel recalls that by introducing its Dynapar AQ, its turnover in the market grew to about Rs 90 crore from about Rs 3 crore in just six years. Similarly, by introducing Dynapar QPS spray in the market, it went on to control about 25-30 per cent of the market.

"Focus on intellectual property has put Troikaa in a different league. Earlier, we were just one of the companies in pharmaceuticals. Intellectual property has made us stand out. It has yielded financial benefits as well," Patel told DNA.

Ahmedabad-based software company, eInfochips, was established in 1995 and sold to US-based Arrow Electronics in 2017, fetching Rs 1,800 crore. Intellectual property was the backbone on which the company functioned, said its founder, Pratul Shroff. Hiranmay Mahanta, honorary director of Gujarat Technology University's (GTU) Innovation Council (GIC) said that about 45,000 patents are filed in India as compared to about five lakh in US and about 13 lakh in China.

Globally, about 30 lakh patents are filed. Experts lament that lack of awareness and lack of confidence among Indians for low filing of patent applications. Iftekhar Pathan, director of the Pune-based Lorea Healtcare Pvt Ltd, which facilities investment in start-ups from Gujarat, said, "Most Indian entrepreneurs do not have the self-confidence that they can create patents. We have intuitive minds and knowledge, but we work for foreign companies, who then own patents," said Pathan.

Troikaa's Patel agrees with the view and adds that there is an attitude of indifference towards innovative Indian companies. Moreover, the intellectual property regime in India is such that piracy continues and copy-cats are not punished resulting in loss of revenue for companies.

Lack of awareness in industry and academia are one of the major bottlenecks, which GTU is trying to solve. It has made the search, drafting and filing of patents compulsory for final year students. Moreover, it is sensitising faculty and students towards the importance of intellectual property, said Mahanta.

Steps By Academia

Lack of awareness in industry and academia are one of the major bottlenecks, which GTU is trying to solve. It has made the search, drafting and filing of patents compulsory for final year students. Moreover, it is sensitising faculty and students towards the importance of intellectual property, said Hiranmay Mahanta, honorary director of GTU