New Delhi, July 31 (IANS): The government on Friday reported that 226,339 patents are pending with it and are being processed at various stages.

According to data furnished by the minister of state (MoS) for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman, Delhi topped the list with 83,291 patent applications, with Mumbai being at the bottom of the list with 28,100 patents pending to be passed.

The minister in a written reply to the Lok Sabha informed that to speed-up the process additional 252 posts of examiners and 76 posts of controllers (supervisory officers) have been created.

"With this, the total sanctioned strength of examiners and controllers has become 589 and 170 respectively. The process of recruitment to 459 vacant posts of examiners has already been initiated," she added.

The minister further informed that as a short-time measure, 263 posts of contract examiners of patents have been sanctioned.

She elaborated that in order to save time and increase efficiency of the examination process, the government will ensure computerised work-flow, automation and IT (information technology) enablement in the functioning of patent offices.