India has risen to 38th position among 139 positions—compared to 81st position ten years ago—in the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Global Innovation Index 2025.

The news was shared by Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, on his social media handles. “Guided by PM Narendra Modi’s innovation vision, this progress reflects our unwavering commitment to knowledge creation and sustainable growth. A big congratulations to our innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists and young talent for powering our journey towards a Viksit Bharat and global leadership,” reads Goyal’s post on X.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, in the 2025 Global Innovation Index 2025 rankings, 17 low- and middle-income economies are performing above expectations for their level of development, with India and Vietnam as the longest-running innovation overperformers. “India and Vietnam remain the longest-standing overperformers, performing above expectation for their level of development for the 15th year,” the report adds.

In Central and South Asia, India remains the top regional performer. India has advanced one rank this year and has led the lower-middle-income group since 2022. “India stands out for its ICT services exports, a vibrant VC landscape, late-stage VC and startup financing, unicorns and intangible assets—reflecting tech-driven growth,” reads the report.

The report also notes that research output hit a record-breaking two million articles in 2024, driven by China’s 14% growth and India’s solid 7.6% increase. The global science engine is running strong. In terms of innovation clusters, India ranks fourth, with the United Kingdom, with four clusters each.

The four clusters include Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. “Three of India’s four clusters achieved remarkable advances relative to last year’s cluster ranking, also benefiting from the inclusion of VC activity into the mix: Bengaluru rose to 21st, Delhi to 26th, and Mumbai to 46th position,” the report reads.

While electric car adoption has decelerated in Western economies, with annual growth rates falling by around 30 percentage points, by contrast, China and other emerging economies, such as India, Vietnam, and Brazil, have sustained strong EV growth.

In terms of safe sanitation, India and China, which together account for more than one-third of the global population, have made notable strides—each recording an increase of around 23 percentage points since 2014. Usage rates for safe sanitation now stand at 69% in China and 63% in India.