Government opens special channel to speed up patent grant process

Government opens special channel to speed up patent grant process
The government, in a first, aims to process patent applications within 6 to 12 months as against the normal route which takes 5 to 7 years
The government, in a first, has opened a special window to process patent applications within 6 to 12 months as against the normal route which takes 5 to 7 years. The easy route will be open only to start-ups and firms willing to file patents for new innovations first in India, thereby recognising the Indian patent office as a competent International Searching Authority (ISA) or International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA).

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) notified on Monday the amended patent rules which included the provision among others. But the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks will only take up a limited number of applications under the fast-track route in one year. There are 18 patent offices classified as ISA or IPEA in the world.

“India is the 17th ISA. We have kept this condition to popularize Indian ISA for patent filings. We expect start-ups and Indian companies to use this route,” a DIPP official said on condition of anonymity.

Now when an applicant files a “request for examination” which is a completed application form, it takes the Indian patent office 5-7 years to do the first examination. Then, based on the questions or contests by other parties, the patent office gives 12 months to respond to the original applicant after which it either grants or rejects the patent. The final award of patent depends on how soon the applicant responds to the queries. The centre is trying to bring down the first examination period to 18 months by March 2018 for applications filed through the normal route.

The time to be taken to complete the first examination has not been specified in the amended rules and it will be separately notified through an executive order, the official said.

The fast-track facility will be available for start-ups set up anywhere in the world if they satisfy the definition of a start-up by DIPP. “Under the World Trade Organisation rules, we have to give national treatment and cannot discriminate against a company from another country,” the official said.

India has defined a start-up as one that has been set up in less than five years and whose turnover is less than Rs.25 crore. This definition will also be applicable to foreign start-ups.

DIPP has also recognised start-ups as individuals rather than companies and has cut their application fees. For example, initial application fee for a start-up is Rs.1,600, equivalent for an individual person and the fee for request for examination is Rs.4,000. If the start-up wants to expedite its patent application, it has to pay double the fee. The application fees for small and medium enterprises and large companies go up by 2.5 times and 3 times, respectively.

Through the amended rules, DIPP has also for the first time introduced cases under which firms can ask for a refund of patent application fee if one withdraws the application.

“There are a lot of applications pending with us unnecessarily when the party is not even interested in pursuing it. They filed an application earlier thinking that they had a grand idea. After working on it for a year, they realized that it was of no use or could not be commercialized or it’s not viable. Now, they can just file an application to withdraw and we will return the fee. If the patent application has reached the stage of ‘request for examination’, still the applicant can withdraw it and we will refund 90% of the application fee,” the official said.

In countries such as Japan, 10-15% of the applications get withdrawn. In India, the number of pending patent applications are around 240,000.

SBI merger: India may soon have a global Top 50 bank

SBI merger: India may soon have a global Top 50 bank
SBI, associates begin talks for a merger which would create an entity with a balance sheet of Rs37 trillion

India took its first step towards creating a large bank with the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and its five associate banks initiating a merger process. All six are state-owned.

A merger would create a banking behemoth with a balance sheet size of Rs.37 trillion, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said. That would be more than five times the Rs.7.2 trillion balance sheet size of India’s second largest lender, ICICI Bank Ltd.

The combined entity, however, would still be quite small by global standards. SBI was at rank 52 in the world in terms of assets in 2015, according to Bloomberg, and a merger will see it break into the top 50. All else remaining the same, the combined entity would be ranked 45th.

India has flirted with the idea of bank consolidation for years. Several state-owned lenders are much too small to be viable in any significant way, and some experts believe that larger banks can serve the banking needs of the country’s retail and commercial borrowers better.

On Tuesday, boards of SBI and the associate banks met individually in Mumbai and decided to begin merger talks with the parent.

“State Bank of India has informed BSE that SBI is seeking “in principle sanction” of the Central Government to enter into negotiation with the subsidiary banks (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Travancore) and Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited to acquire their businesses including assets and liabilities,” SBI said in a statement to stock exchanges.

Click here for enlarge
Similar statements were issued by the three listed associate banks—State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.

The effort is “purely exploratory” at this stage and there is no certainty that the process will result in an eventual merger, SBI added in its statement.

Efforts at bank consolidation, to create large lenders with the size and scale to fulfil the funding needs of a growing economy, have failed to make headway in the past because of resistance by unions fearful of job losses.

Taking note of Tuesday’s development, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) called for an all-India strike on 20 May to oppose the intended consolidation.

The consolidation process is being driven by the government, which is keen to reform the banking sector that’s now weighed down by bad loans.

In an interview to Business Standard on Monday, finance minister Arun Jaitley hinted that the government was looking at bank consolidation with some urgency. When asked what the government’s timeline was, Jaitley responded: “Wait for a few days”.

SBI had seven associates, of which it merged two—State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore—with itself over the last 10 years. The five remaining associate banks have a cumulative advances base of Rs.3.78 trillion and a deposit base of Rs.5.03 trillion, according to their last reported numbers.

SBI, the parent bank, had advances of Rs.13.91 trillion and deposits of Rs.16.71 trillion as of the end of the December quarter.

“There are a lot of synergies between the banks. Currently there is a lot of duplication,” Bhattacharya said. “For instance, each bank runs its own individual treasury. Once you start rationalizing all this, the bank will get a lot of cost benefits.

“We will now start talking to all constituents including the employees. Can’t give a timeline but would like to do it as soon as possible,” she added.

A. Krishna Kumar, a former managing director of SBI, said the merger of associates should probably have happened a long time ago.

“But it should be understood that the process will take time. It should not be rushed through. You have to think it through carefully and implement it well,” said Kumar, adding that overlaps between these banks will have to be dealt with patiently.

“There will definitely be an overlap in terms of branches and employees. Each of these associates was working independently and, particularly in the large cities, were competing with the parent bank. You will have to rationalize these branches over time while ensuring that employees are redeployed appropriately.”

Bank consolidation was proposed by the government in March at a congregation of bankers and government officials where various issues pertaining to banks were discussed. Jaitley had said that all bankers supported the idea of consolidation among public sector banks and that the country needed a handful of large banks instead of a large number of small banks.

What has strengthened the case for such mergers at this stage is the need to infuse capital in state-owned banks that are burdened by a large pile of non-performing assets—the result of an economic downturn that made it difficult for many over-extended corporate borrowers to repay debt.

“Consolidation is no longer a luxury for the banking system, it is a need. Earlier, the argument was capital efficiency, saying that the government would have had to shell out more for multiple banks from the same group, hence consolidation would help. But today, NPA (non-performing asset) management and quicker resolution seems to be a bigger reason working in favour of consolidation,” said Ashvin Parekh, managing partner of Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services Llp.

Publicly traded banks in India added nearly Rs.1 trillion in bad loans in the quarter ended 31 December, an increase of 29% compared with end-September, as lenders responded to a central bank call to accelerate recognition of stressed assets.

This led to a surge in provisions and, consequently, a drop in profits.

The government has committed to infusing Rs.25,000 crore into state-owned banks this year as part of an overall plan to infuse Rs.70,000 crore over three years. The first tranche of Rs.25,000 crore was allotted to banks in fiscal 2016.

Rating agencies have said the amount of capital needed by these banks will be far in excess of what the government is in a position to provide.

India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd estimates that banks need a total of Rs.3.7 trillion between fiscal 2017 and 2019 to meet Basel-III norms.

india snubs Pakistan’s objection to draft Geospatial Bill

india snubs Pakistan’s objection to draft Geospatial Bill
Pakistan foreign office expressed “serious concern” to the UN over the draft Geospatial Bill in the Indian Parliament over the map of Kashmir
Pakistan on Tuesday opposed a draft Indian legislation that seeks to penalise anyone misrepresenting India’s geographical boundaries, drawing a swift and sharp rebuke by New Delhi.

A statement from the Pakistani foreign office, forwarded by the high commission in New Delhi, said that Pakistan had “expressed serious concern to the United Nations Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council (UNSC)... with regard to the Indian government’s efforts to introduce a controversial ‘Geospatial Information Regulation Bill’ in the Indian Parliament.

“In violation of UNSC resolutions, the official map of India has been depicting the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir as part of India which is factually incorrect and legally untenable,” the Pakistani statement said.

While maps printed in India and by Indian publishers show the entire Jammu and Kashmir region as part of India, many international publications have shows the territory under Indian control differently.

“Through the passage of this Bill, the Indian government would penalize the individuals and organizations who depict Jammu and Kashmir as a disputed territory as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions,” the Pakistani statement said, adding that Pakistan called upon the “United Nations to uphold the UNSC resolutions and urge India to stop such acts which are in violation of international law.

“We have urged the international community and the United Nations to fulfil their commitment with the people of Jammu and Kashmir by holding an independent and impartial plebiscite under UN auspices,” it added.

India told off Pakistan in a terse response.

“The proposed Bill is an entirely internal legislative matter of India, since the whole of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Pakistan or any other party has no locus standi in the matter,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

“The Government firmly rejects Pakistan’s repeated and increasing attempts to impose on the international community matters that India has always been open to address bilaterally with Pakistan,” Swarup added.

According to the draft bill, geospatial data on India cannot be obtained or distributed anywhere without the permission of a three-member Security Vetting Authority.

“False” topographic information, basically representing international boundaries that India does not accept, is punishable with a fine of up to Rs.100 crore.

The bill states that a “licence will be required for creation of maps as well as dissemination of map data. It describes geospatial information as “geospatial imagery…acquired through space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts…or digital data depicting natural…physical features.”

India currently has a National Map Policy which was introduced in 2005. The policy states that only the Survey of India can bring out ‘Open Series Maps’ for development activities. The policy, however, does not mention any punitive measures for wrong maps.

Rare sighting: Brown bears return to Kargil

Rare sighting: Brown bears return to Kargil

Wildlife officials spot ursine family in sector where their natural habitat was damaged by 1999 war.

The J&K Wildlife Department has recorded its first ever sighting of a group of eight Himalayan brown bears in Kargil’s Drass Sector, where the 1999 war had wreaked havoc with their habitats.

“The sighting of eight brown bears, including three adult females and five grown-up cubs, is a rare record. No such sighting has ever been reported from J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where these animals are distributed,” Kargil Wildlife Warden Intesar Suhail told The Hindu over phone from Kargil, 200 km away from Srinagar.

A Wildlife Department team, headed by Mr. Suhail, spotted the rare Himalayan brown bears, in Ladakh’s Drass area with mountain ranges of 16,000 to 21,000 feet, just before the sunrise on May 12.

“We trekked for two-and-a-half hours and spotted these animals. Otherwise sightings are only reported during the night, that too of a solitary bear or with a cub. Besides these eight, we expect at least three male bears to active the area,” he said.

Den nearby
Two days later, the team spotted a brown bear and a cub in the afternoon, again a rare sighting. “It seems there is a den. It is a memorable sight for me as wildlife researcher,” said Mr. Suhail.

The sighting of such relatively large numbers of Himalayan brown bears in just one wildlife zone out of four major areas of Suru, Zanskar, Drass and Kargil in the Ladakh region is a positive indication.

A brown bear requires about 100 square kilometer as its territory to survive and any human intervention disturbs its ecology. “However, in Drass, people have made videos of brown bears in different far-off areas. Besides, the Wildlife Department recorded 25 raids on cattle sheds by brown bears in the past six months in Kargil, reflecting growing numbers,” said Mr. Suhail, whose department is working on a brown bear census.

The Wildlife Department is upbeat as the increasing numbers are testimony to the fact that the negative impact of the 1999 Kargil war, with heavy artillery shelling for almost three months that devastated the bear habitat, seems to be waning.

“The Tiger Hill, one of the battle fields, was a prominent brown bear habitat. The war and the movement of troops did impact the animal’s behavior and ecology,” said Mr. Suhail.

In 2010, an extensive survey, ‘Carnivore-human conflict in Kargil and Drass’, carried by the Rufford Small Grant and the State Wildlife Department in the district did not record a single Himalayan brown bear sighting.

Only 11 indirect sightings, based on scat, scrape and pug-marks, were reported.

Sightings of brown bear, which is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' list of vulnerable animals, has come down significantly in Kashmir Valley too in the past few decades.

Renewables are not enough

Renewables are not enough
The challenge is to find a path that enables emerging economies while ensuring that the world meets its climate objectives
At the United Nations in New York on 22 April, world leaders ratified the global climate agreement reached in Paris last December. One hundred and ninety-five countries, ranging from richest to poorest, have now agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with the goal of not exceeding 1.5°C. They have also committed to “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs) to limit or reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030. This is a major achievement, but it is far from sufficient.

In fact, even if all INDC targets were achieved, the world would still be heading towards eventual warming of some 2.7-3.4°C above pre-industrial levels. To keep warming well below 2°C, emissions in 2030 must be more than 30% below those envisaged in the INDCs.

This will be an enormous challenge, given the need for major strides in economic development over the same period. That will require a huge increase in energy consumption. The average African, for example, today uses about one-tenth of the energy used by the average European. But by 2050, we must reduce energy-related emissions by 70% from 2010 levels, with further cuts needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

Meeting those objectives will require both an improvement in energy productivity (the amount of income produced per unit of energy consumed) of at least 3% per year and the rapid decarbonization of energy supply, with the share of zero-carbon energy increasing by at least one percentage point each year.

This implies a massive acceleration of national efforts. Over the past decade, energy productivity has grown by only 0.7% annually, and the share of zero-carbon energy rose by only 0.1 percentage point per year. Moreover, even if the INDCs were fully implemented, these annual growth rates would reach only 1.8% and 0.4 percentage points, respectively.

Impressive progress is already being made in one crucial area: electricity generation. Solar power costs have fallen 80% since 2008. In some places, new supply contracts have set prices as low as $0.06 per kilowatt hour, making solar power fully competitive with coal and natural gas.

Between now and 2030, the INDCs indicate that renewable-power capacity will grow four times faster than fossil-fuel capacity, with 70% of this new renewables investment in emerging and developing economies. That investment needs to be matched by accelerated progress in battery technology, or by other tools to match electricity demand to intermittent supply. But there is no doubt that, by mid-century, the world can build a cost-effective zero-carbon electricity system.

And yet zero-carbon power, though hugely important, is insufficient, because electricity currently accounts for only 20% of global energy consumption. Broader changes to the global energy system are needed.

Road transport and aviation, which currently rely almost entirely on liquid fossil fuels, account for 30% of total energy consumption. Decarbonization of these activities will require electrification or the use of hydrogen or biofuels.

Heating buildings is another area where major changes are needed. Here, the more widespread use of zero-carbon electricity, instead of fossil-fuel-based energy, could have a major impact. But there are also important opportunities to design and construct buildings and cities that are substantially more energy-efficient.

Energy use by heavy industry presents challenges that are often ignored. Metals, chemicals, cement and plastics are vital building blocks of the modern economy, and involve processes that cannot be easily electrified. Decarbonization may instead require the application of carbon capture and storage technologies, while newly designed building materials could reduce demand for carbon-intensive inputs.

Given these challenges, fossil fuels will undoubtedly play a role in transport and heavy industry for some time to come, even as their role in electricity generation declines. And, even in electricity generation, emerging economies’ INDCs imply significant new investments in coal or gas capacity. Taken together, the INDCs suggest that coal could still account for 35% of global electricity generation in 2030. But that level of coal generation is likely to be incompatible with the below-2°C target.

The challenge now is to find an economically sensible path that enables emerging economies to fulfil their growing energy needs, while ensuring that the world meets its climate objectives. It is technologically possible. But it will require action by many very different actors.

Governments have a vital role to play, but so, too, do incumbent fossil-fuel-based energy companies and new-entrant companies deploying or developing new technologies. NGOs can help to identify required policies and hold governments and companies to account. Individual consumers are also important, because their behaviour shapes energy demand.

Despite their varied backgrounds, economic interests and points of view, all of these actors must engage in an informed debate that recognizes all of the complexities of the challenge ahead.

The shared objective is clear: to build a low-carbon economy that can keep global temperatures well within 2°C of pre-industrial levels, while delivering prosperity for a world of 10 billion people or more.

Niti Aayog to replace 5-year plans with 15-year vision document

Niti Aayog to replace 5-year plans with 15-year vision document
The first 15-year vision document will come into effect from 2017-18, according to a senior official from the Niti Aayog
Abandoning the ancient concept of five-year plans that India has been following since 1951, the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog has decided to come up with a 15-year vision document in tandem with global trends and economic growth.

The news was first reported by The Economic Times and The Times of India.

The long-term vision document will formulate various ways through which India can achieve its broader social objectives to meet the UNDP’s 2030 sustainable goals and will be a roadmap on transformation required in the planning system to sync it with the 14th Finance Commission recommendations. The 14th Finance Commission favoured giving states more untied funds along with greater fiscal responsibility in implementing centrally-sponsored schemes. To this effect, it increased the states’ share in central taxes from 32% to 42%.

Interestingly, the move comes just three months after finance minister Arun Jaitley hinted in his budget speech that the government will abandon the plan and non-plan distinction from 2017-18, indicating that the five-year plan process will end with the 12th five-year plan.

A senior official from the Niti Aayog said, on condition of anonymity, that the first 15-year vision document will come into effect from 2017-18, along with a seven-year National Development Agenda which will lay down the schemes, programmes and strategies to achieve the long-term vision. The Aayog will also create a dashboard for monitoring, evaluation and review. We will fix outcome targets for all major schemes, especially in infrastructure and social sectors.

Interestingly, the 15-year vision document will also include internal security and defence that have not been a part of five-year plans. The official quoted above added that the prime minister has already approved it and a draft is expected to be submitted to him by May-end.

N.C. Saxena, former member of the planning commission, said the government had to prepare a 15-year agenda to meet sustainable development goals by 2030.

“India has to achieve 16 goals which has 169 sub-targets by 2030. These are not only sustainable goals but have a larger focus. So there has to be a vision or plan in place to see how these targets will be met and how much resources will be required to achieve this. So to a certain extent, there is a mandatory part to the Niti Aayog’s 15-year development plan,” he said.

“On the other hand, since the planning commission was abolished, there was no longer any need for 5-year plans given that every department finalizes its budget and the finance ministry takes a final call on the allocations required,” he added.

Uttarakhand Burns: Road ahead for the state

Uttarakhand Burns: Road ahead for the state
The recent forest fires in Uttarakhand torched more than 2,000 hectares. In the last of a three-part series, Business Standard looks at how community engagement is crucial in fighting forest fires
On a drizzly Sunday morning, around a hundred students and teachers gathered at the gates of All Saints' School in Nainital. Led by environmental activist Ajay Rawat, they came to pick up all the flammable organic matter on the forest floor and put it in composting pits, to prevent a fire.

"Pine needles and twigs had become so dry that they were an inferno waiting to happen," said Rawat.

During the exercise, students discussed ways to prevent forest fires. "We should know what to do, for we live here and want to save our forests," said one of the students.

Uttarakhand government could learn a crucial lesson from these students. Across the world, governments involve, train and empower local communities to put off forest fires before they spread. In Uttarakhand, however, the community has been excluded from this exercise altogether.

"The focus of the forest department has remained the same since it was established by the British, i.e. revenue generation - not conservation, afforestation and community participation," said Mukti Dutta, Binsar-based environmentalist. "If the government engages local villagers to clear fire lines, plant local trees and create seedling nurseries, they would feel more like they have a stake in the well-being of the forests."

Instead, many observers have noted, the friction between the forest department and villagers has been growing, mainly because villagers are restricted from using forests resources. "A massive snowfall in December 2014 caused a lot of trees and branches to fall in Binsar. Even though allowing locals to clear the debris of fallen trees inside the buffer zone of the sanctuary would have given them access to timber and kept the forest floor free from flammable organic matter - the forest department didn't allow them. The result is that today, because of huge buildup of dry organic matter, 80 per cent of Binsar forest has been burnt…" said Dutta.

The growing distance between local communities and the forests is worrying. "Most of the fires today are caused by sheer negligence, or worse, on purpose, because of discontentment with the way forests are being managed," said KC Suyal, joint secretary, Forest Rangers Association, Uttarakhand.

The other procedural failure is that forest fires are not recognised as National Disasters. This might be because of the erroneous but popular belief that fires are a natural aspect of the forest ecology. This is one reason why the government responded to the emergency in Uttarakhand very late.

"By recognising forest fires as National Disasters, the government will acknowledge that they are not natural," said Rawat. Further, such a move would create awareness among local communities to engage in fire-safety practices, not throw smouldering cigarette/beedi butts in the forest or burn crop waste close to the forests," he added. Most importantly, the government will be compelled to take timely action with involvement of the army or Indo Tibetan Border Police Force, when needed.

Increasing community participation and recognising forest fires as national disasters will both require policy changes. The destruction caused by recent fires should push all stakeholders to do everything possible to save what is left of the great Himalayan forests.