Patent protection in India isn't a one-time transaction. Once a patent is granted, keeping it alive requires an annual renewal payment — commonly called an annuity — for every year of its remaining term, up to a maximum of 20 years from the original filing date.
When Renewal Fees Actually Start
No renewal fee is payable while an application is pending. The obligation begins from the 3rd year after filing, but only once the patent has actually been granted. If grant takes longer than two years from filing — which is common — all the accumulated renewal fees from year three onward become due within three months of the grant date. This can mean a lump sum covering several years' worth of annuities lands on a patentee's desk all at once, which is worth planning for rather than being surprised by.
Form 30: The Mechanism for Payment
Renewal fees are paid to the Indian Patent Office using Form 30, along with the prescribed fee for the relevant year. Fees increase as the patent ages — later years of a patent's term cost meaningfully more to renew than the early years, which is the Patent Office's way of encouraging patentees to actively assess whether continued protection is still commercially worthwhile.
Renewal fees are due in advance of the anniversary of the filing date, not after it. Treating the anniversary date as the deadline rather than the last safe date to pay is one of the most common — and avoidable — renewal mistakes we see.
What Happens If a Renewal Fee Is Missed
Most jurisdictions, India included, allow a grace period after the due date during which a patent can still be renewed, typically with a late fee attached. If that window also passes without payment, the patent lapses. Once lapsed, a patentee can generally apply for restoration within a further limited period, but restoration is not automatic — it requires filing an application, paying the outstanding fees plus applicable surcharges, and satisfying the Controller that the failure to renew was not deliberate.
Restoration is time-consuming and never guaranteed. It is, without exception, more expensive and more uncertain than simply renewing on time in the first place.
Renewal Fees Are Not the Same as Form 27
A frequent point of confusion: paying the annual renewal fee keeps a patent legally in force, but it says nothing about whether the invention is being commercially used. That disclosure obligation is handled separately, through Form 27, the statement of working, due once every three years under the current rules. A portfolio can be fully current on renewals and still be exposed on Form 27, or vice versa — the two need to be tracked side by side, not treated as a single compliance task.
Let us track every Indian renewal deadline for you
We monitor annuity due dates across your entire Indian patent portfolio and file Form 30 on your behalf, well ahead of every anniversary.
View India Renewal Services →Managing Renewals Alongside a Global Portfolio
Very few patentees hold protection in India alone. If your innovation is also protected in the United States or Australia, each jurisdiction runs its own fee calendar on its own currency and its own grace-period rules. Reviewing our guides to USPTO maintenance fees and IP Australia renewal fees alongside this one is the fastest way to see how the three compare, and where a single missed reminder could put a whole territory at risk.