#MakeinIndia: Foreign Tech Manufacturers, Including Chinese & Taiwanese, Bullish on India
In what could be seen as a sign of momentum gaining of the Make in India program, foreign technology product manufacturers, particularly the Chinese ones, are increasingly looking at the Indian market with upbeat sentiment and renewed interest. The trend is evident as the number of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) filed by them in India has gone up manifold.
The leading example of such a phenomena is Hon Hai Precision Industry, the technology major known for manufacturing Apple iPhones. The firm, which goes by the name of Foxconn Technology Group and is a fortune 25 company, has dramatically increased patent applications over the past couple of years. The Taiwanese MNC is the world's largest electronic products manufacturer on contract and is the third-largest information technology (IT) company by revenue.
Although the MNC started India operations in 2006, it did not start filing patents till January 2016, reveal sources. However, the trend has completely reversed of late as can be seen in their bullish approach to filing IPR applications. The company has by now filed around 200 applications in India. The firm always had a robust IPR portfolio overseas. In 2014, Foxconn ranked ninth among corporate applicants in terms of patents granted in mainland China. The company received 811 patents. Similarly, the tech giant was placed 18th on the list of US patent recipients.
Similarly, there has been a spike in patent applications of Yulong. The company is a subsidiary of the Coolpad group, which is one of the largest smartphone companies in China as well as the biggest Chinese domestic brand outside China. It started filing in India in 2015 and now commands a portfolio of more than 67 published patents and several applications, which are still in the pre-publication stage.
Despite the perceptibly improved numbers, industry experts have a differing view. They still consider the numbers low, saying that the companies, for now, aim to protect only high-value inventions. They also add that the rising numbers are indicative of rising faith among foreign players in India’s ability to enforce intellectual property laws. This also shows that Indian IP system is getting strengthened and the much needed boost has started to happen.
“The company started its filing for patents and Trademarks in 2015, but since the past six months the rate of filings has increased multifold. We are exclusively managing IP portfolios of many Chinese MNCs such as Yulong (Coolpad), Hong Fu, etc. in India and have found a sharp surge in IP filings of such companies. This shows that Chinese companies are getting serious in securing their inventions in India,” said Ashutosh Choudhary of KAnalysis Consultant, the firm that manages Foxconn’s Indian IP Operations.
