The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has placed 32 nations on the priority watch list as result of deficient protection of intellectual property and enforcement.  India joins Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Venezuela as nations that will be subject to review and negotiations to resolve issues relating to intellectual property. The USTR document entitled 2021 Special 301 Report cites India as a source of counterfeit medicines along with China, the Philippines, and Pakistan.

Protection of intellectual property in India is regarded as inadequate based on patent revocations, expensive, time consuming and bureaucratic approaches to applications for patents, vagueness and interpretation of the India Patents Act, and weak enforcement of intellectual property by courts and regulatory officials.  India does not have adequate protection of trade secrets and owners of copyright are subject to online piracy.

India has apparently addressed deficiencies by joining the World Intellectual Property Organization Internet Treaty in 2018 and is developing guidelines for classification of goods and services in accordance with the 2019 Nice Agreement.