Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement and Industry Dynamics: Evidence from Indian Panel Data

Kartiki Verma and Sunil Kanwar
Additional contact information
Kartiki Verma: Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
Sunil Kanwar: Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

No 360, Working papers from Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of the strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPR) on industry-level outcomes such as sales, innovation, and profitability in India, for the period 1990-2020. We first construct a novel industry-specific IPR implementation index that reflects de facto enforcement across 27 two-digit industries. Industry outcomes are then modelled using industry data at the two-digit level. The empirical results reveal significant heterogeneity in the effects of IPR regimes. Stronger IPR protection disproportionately benefits firms with higher R&D intensity, amplifying both R&D investment and profitability, with robustness checks confirming consistency across alternative specifications. However, the gains from IPR protection are less pronounced for firms heavily engaged in innovation. This interaction may also reflect a strategic shift in firm behavior rather than a decline in performance. IPR reform positively affect R&D and profitability, particularly in pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing. The strengthening of IPR is a powerful driver of performance when paired with internal innovation capacity, highlighting the critical role of absorptive capacity

Keywords: Intellectual property rights; enforcement; de facto index; industry JEL codes: O34; C43; K11; L16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2026-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-cse, nep-ipr and nep-sbm
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cdedse.org/pdf/work360.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cde:cdewps:360

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cdedse.org/

The price is free.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working papers from Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics Delhi 110 007. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sanjeev Sharma ().