It is reported that the potential threat of patent revocations, lack of presumption of patent validity, and the narrow patentability criteria under the India Patents Act impact companies across different sectors. In addition, it has been reported that courts take a significant amount of time to make a final decision in a patent case. A patent lawsuit ordinarily takes approximately five to seven years to be finally decided after trial if contested by the other party. The Commercial Courts Act is helping to speed up the process with case management hearings and time-bound trials. However, the backlog of cases at the court and the shortage of judicial officers have an impact on the time it takes for a final decision on a case.

The Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order 2017 - Notification of Telecom Products, Services, and Works establishes a list of telecom products, services, and works for which procurement preference is granted to domestic manufacturers. The telecom products and services covered under this Order include encryption systems, ethernet switches, IP-based soft switches, set-top boxes, and Wi-Fi-based broadband wireless access systems, among others. The local content requirements range between 30% and 70%. Annexure B of the Order outlines the conditions for inputs to qualify as local content, which include components such as integrated chips, active components, and cables, among others, that must be manufactured in India. The Order also stipulates that local suppliers must manufacture equipment from the component level in India and develop local vendors for procuring raw materials, components, and parts to enhance local content.

India is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

With the enactment of the Public Procurement (Make in India) Order 2018 for Cyber Security Products, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology underscored the strategic importance of cybersecurity. As a result, governmental entities are directed to prioritise the procurement of domestically manufactured cybersecurity products when tendering processes. A domestically manufactured cybersecurity product is defined as one where an Indian company owns the intellectual property (IP), and the company has the autonomy to distribute, modify, or commercialise the product without third-party consent. Additionally, products composed of multiple sub-components may also qualify as domestically manufactured cybersecurity products if at least 60% of the total product cost is attributed to local content and third-party licensing fees do not exceed 20% of the total product cost.
Additionally, the Public Procurement (Make in India) Order 2019 for Cyber Security Products granted preferential treatment to companies incorporated and registered in India or to startup firms meeting the criteria set by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), provided that revenue from the product and IP licensing is accrued within India. The scope of cybersecurity products covered by these notifications includes anti-virus software, cloud security solutions, mobile security applications, firewalls, OTP gateways, encryption services, and others. A comprehensive list of products can be found in the Public Procurement (Make in India) Order 2019 for Cyber Security Products.

The Copyright Act of 1957 provides a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows the fair dealing model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. According to Art. 52.1, a fair dealing with any work (not being a computer programme) for the purposes of private or personal use, criticism or review and the reporting of current events and current affairs does not constitute an infringement of copyright.

The Policy for Providing Preference to Domestically Manufactured Electronic Products in Government Procurement (PMA) mandates that domestically manufactured equipment be prioritised in both government procurement and select private sector procurement activities. The policy stipulates that each ministry or department must meet a minimum percentage of their demand for electronic products with locally manufactured goods that comply with the prescribed minimum value addition requirements for each item. This policy aligns with India’s broader objectives to enhance domestic manufacturing capacity and safeguard the security of its telecommunications infrastructure.
According to the 2015 Guidelines on the implementation of this policy, the minimum threshold for domestic procurement of any electronic product is set at 30%. Additionally, the rate of total procurement value accorded preference for domestically manufactured electronic products should be determined in a manner that encourages domestic manufacturing while maximising competition.
In addition, the Guidelines list the electronic products subject to this policy, including but not limited to notebooks, tablets, desktop PCs, servers, printers, keyboards, monitors, USB devices, ATMs, photocopiers, scanners, faxes, smartcards, mobile handsets, handheld terminals, PC projectors, and POS-based services. Telecom products under the Guidelines include SIM cards, encryption platforms, leased line network equipment, WiFi access systems, among others.

Copyright is not adequately enforced online in India. It is reported that, despite efforts to combat websites hosting pirated content, enforcement by courts and police officers remains weak. There is a lack of familiarity with investigation techniques, and the absence of a centralised IP enforcement agency, coupled with poor coordination between national and state levels, undermines the progress made. Stakeholders report ongoing issues such as unauthorised file-sharing of video games, signal theft by cable operators, commercial-scale photocopying, unauthorised reprints of academic books, and circumvention of technological protection measures.

M/s ITI Limited (a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Telecommunications) has a reservation quota for procurements made by three state-owned telecommunications companies (BSNL, BBNL and MTNL). The reservation quota for M/s ITI Ltd. in procurements began on September 21, 2013. It was initially extended in November 2018 for three years, maintaining a 30% reservation threshold, with value addition requirements of 12% in 2018-19, 16% in 2019-20, and 20% in 2020-21. The policy has been subject to periodic reviews, with the latest extension in 2024 continuing beyond the initial three-year period.

India has ratified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Under the E-mail Policy of the Government of India (GoI), the use of private email platforms, such as Gmail or Outlook, for official communication is strictly prohibited across all government organisations. Employees are mandated to transition to the email services provided by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and must exclusively utilise these official email services for all governmental correspondence. Furthermore, government employees are prohibited from sharing their official email account credentials with private email service providers.
Each employee of the Central Government, as well as those in state or Union Territory (UT) governments, is assigned two email accounts: one linked to their official designation for exclusive use in professional communications and the other, based on their name, which may be used for both professional and personal purposes.

It is reported that India lacks a comprehensive public procurement policy, leading to an inconsistent and non-transparent public procurement process.

India is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). However, the country has been an observer of the agreement since 2010.

As stipulated in Section 5.2.7.2 of the 2020 Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy Circular, foreign direct investment in broadcasting content services, specifically related to the uploading and streaming of news and current affairs via digital media, is limited to 26% and is subject to government approval.

Since the implementation of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2016, last amended by the Consolidated FD) Policy Circular of 2020, India permits fully owned FDI in business-to-business (“marketplace-based”) electronic commerce, i.e. "providing an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital & electronic network to act as a facilitator between buyer and seller." However, India prohibits foreign investment in business-to-consumer (or “inventory-based”) electronic commerce, also defined as "e-commerce activity where the inventory of goods and services is owned by an e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly".
When a marketplace e-commerce entity exercises ownership or control over the inventory, the business is categorised into the inventory-based model. Additionally, India implemented regulations that expressly prohibit subsidiaries of foreign-owned marketplace-based electronic commerce sites from selling products on their parent companies’ sites. The rules also prohibit exclusivity arrangements by which electronic commerce retailers can offer a product on an exclusive basis.
The only exceptions for FDI in inventory-based electronic commerce are for food-product retailing and single-brand retailers that meet certain conditions, including the operation of physical stores in India. According to Section 5.2.15.3 of the Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2020, retail trading through e-commerce can also be undertaken before opening physical stores, subject to the entity opening physical stores within two years from the start of online retail. Overall, it is reported that these narrow exceptions limit the ability of many electronic commerce service suppliers to serve the Indian market.

According to Art. 3B of the Internal Trade (DPIIT) Order No. P-45021/2/2017-B.E, if the procurement authority has determined that sufficient local capacity and competition exist, only 'Class-I Local Suppliers' are eligible to participate, ensuring that all selected suppliers fall within this category. As stipulated in the Order, a 'Class-I Local Supplier' is defined as a supplier whose local content comprises at least 50%.