Indian Company and IP Law: A Primer for Foreign Businesses and Researchers

Foreign businesses and researchers approaching Indian company and intellectual property law often expect either a pure common law model or a close GDPR-style European model, and get a system that borrows pieces from both while running its own distinct statutory and institutional structure.

Company law: a single, heavily amended code

The Companies Act, 2013 (replacing the 1956 Act) governs incorporation, governance, and winding up of companies in India, administered through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and enforced procedurally through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) rather than ordinary civil courts for most corporate disputes, including insolvency matters now consolidated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Foreign investment routes

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India is governed by the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and sector-specific FDI policy set by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which classifies sectors into automatic route (no prior government approval needed) and government route (requiring approval), a two-track system with no direct equivalent in most single-track FDI regimes.

IP law: TRIPS-compliant but with distinctive carve-outs

India’s patent law, under the Patents Act, 1970 (as amended to comply with the WTO TRIPS Agreement), is often studied by comparative IP researchers specifically because of Section 3(d), which bars patents on new forms of known substances that do not show enhanced efficacy, a provision central to India’s generic pharmaceutical industry and the subject of significant international litigation and commentary (notably the Novartis Glivec case). Trademark law (Trade Marks Act, 1999) and copyright law (Copyright Act, 1957) are more closely aligned with international conventions India has signed, though enforcement mechanisms and timelines differ meaningfully from US or EU practice.

Where this intersects with Lexfolio’s content

The IPR for Engineers and Corporate Governance certificate courses cover these areas in applied detail, and researchers comparing Indian IP policy to other TRIPS-compliant regimes may find useful source material in Lexfolio’s free guides on patent filing and design registration.