India is filing more intellectual property today than at any point in its history. According to the CGPDTM Annual Report for 2024–25, total IP filings crossed 7.49 lakh, rising roughly 20% year-on-year. Trademarks proved to be the most in demand among other IPR types, with more than 5.5 lakh applications & about 3.82 lakh marks registered during the year. With the Indian government’s initiative of digitalization of the registration processes, over 95% of trademark and design applications are now filed online.
The volumes for trademark registration online are impressive. The numbers do not reveal the number of those applicants who falter over the obvious rules. What people often find surprising when they file for the first time.
Importance of the Filing Date & Certificate
Trademark rights in India run from the date of application, not when the certificate gets issued. File Form TM-A on the IP India e-filing portal, and you typically get an acknowledgement number within 1 to 3 working days. From that moment, you can legally use the ™ symbol beside your brand.
Usage of the ® symbol is a different matter as it can only be used when the trademark is successfully registered on the register. Using ® on an unregistered mark is an offence under Section 107 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
Difference Between Company Registration and Brand Protection
Company registration online through the MCA's SPICe+ form is fast, cheap, and centralised. The Central Registration Centre manages it end-to-end, and companies with authorized capital up to ₹15 lakh can be incorporated at nil government fee. This led to the registration of approximately 1.13 lakh companies in FY 24-25.
What many founders believe that registering the business name and getting approval by the Registrar of Companies means the name as a brand also gets protected. However, that is far from the truth. It only means there is no other company on the MCA register with an identical or too similar name. It does not provide the business owner with any special rights to use that name as a brand.
Someone else can trademark your company's name in the class you actually trade in, and enforce it against you. Company and trademark registration are separate systems, run by separate ministries, protecting entirely different things. Founders should treat both as separately important tasks.
How to Get 50% Concession on the Trademark Registration Charges?
The government e-filing fee on Form TM-A is ₹9,000 per class, per mark. But individuals, DPIIT-recognized startups, and Udyam-registered MSMEs pay ₹4,500 — a 50% statutory concession.
To get the discount, the Udyam or DPIIT certificate must be in the applicant's own name and valid. File in the name of a private limited company that has no Udyam registration, and the concession doesn’t apply. And the fee applies per class for every mark, so protecting a name and a logo across two Nice classes means paying four separate fee amounts, not one.
Objections Get a 30-day Deadline
The average registration rate for trademarks across India during 2019-2023 was 60.4%. Section 9 (descriptive marks) and Section 11 (conflicting marks) objections are fairly common. What is not widely known is that you get only 30 days from receipt of the Examination Report to respond. After this, the application is treated as abandoned, with no refund.
You can reduce this possibility by utilizing two tools.
The Registry's AI-powered search facility allows image-based logo searching and phonetic matching before you file.
Rule 34 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 permits expedited examination via Form TM-M for ₹20,000 (startups and MSMEs) or ₹40,000 (others).
It does not, however, shorten the mandatory four-month opposition window after journal publication.
Improvement in the Marks Registration in India
Unconventional trademark types, such as Sound marks, are being established rapidly. IHCL's "Taj Sonic" jingle is registered across multiple classes. In November 2025, the Registry accepted India's first olfactory mark, a rose-like fragrance applied to tyres. Practitioners expect more shape, sound, and scent filings to be tested in the coming years.
In conclusion, trademark registration is gaining traction with rising awareness for brand protection among new founders. Once registered, the mark gets protected for ten years from the filing date and can be again renewed indefinitely.
