Trademark Registration Cost in India (2026)

Quick answer

The government fee is ₹4,500 per class per mark for an individual, startup or small enterprise filing online, and ₹9,000 per class per mark for everyone else. Paper filing costs ₹5,000 and ₹10,000. On top sits a professional fee (from around ₹1,499 + GST) for search, advice and filing. The total scales with the number of classes.

Trademark cost confuses people because the government fee changes based on the applicant type. The good news: for individuals, startups and small businesses, it is cheaper than most expect.

Who this is for

You are about to register a brand name or logo and want to know what it will actually cost — not a headline figure, but the whole stack, including the parts that only appear later. Or you have been handed a quotation and want to check whether it is fair.

Everything below comes from the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 as published by IP India, read line by line. Where a figure is not in the Schedule — a professional fee, a proof requirement, a processing time — this article says so rather than filling the gap.

What you pay

• Professional fee (from ₹1,499 + GST): search, class advice, filing and tracking
• Government fee (per class): lower for individuals/startups/MSMEs; higher for other entities
• Per additional class: each class is a separate government fee
• Later stages (if they arise): objection reply, hearing, opposition — quoted separately

The actual government fee, from the First Schedule

The fee is not a matter of opinion. It is set by the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, made under Section 157 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and Rule 10(1) provides that "the fees to be paid in respect of applications, oppositions, registration, renewal, expedited processing of application or any other matters under the Act and the rules shall be those as specified in the First Schedule."

Entry 1 of that Schedule covers the application for registration, filed on Form TM-A under Rule 23(1). It prices the entry twice — once for physical filing, once for e-filing:

Two qualifications sit in the Schedule itself and both change the number you actually pay.

It is per class and per mark. The Schedule's own note against Entry 1 reads: "Fee is for each class and for each mark." Section 18(2) of the Act says the same thing — a single application may cover different classes, but "fee payable therefor shall be in respect of each such class of goods or services." Two marks in one class is two fees. One mark in three classes is three fees, even inside one multi-class application.

₹4,500 and ₹9,000 are the e-filing figures. Filing on paper costs ₹500 more per class at the concessional rate and ₹1,000 more otherwise. Quoting ₹4,500 without saying "online" understates the paper route. This is the single most commonly dropped qualification in published guidance on trademark cost.

Who gets the lower rate. The Schedule states the category — "Individual / Startup / Small Enterprise" — but does not define those terms, and Rule 10 does not either. In practice the concession is claimed by individuals filing in their own name, by DPIIT-recognised startups and by MSMEs holding a Udyam registration, with the proof filed alongside the application. A partnership firm, LLP, company or trust is not an "individual" and pays the higher rate unless it independently qualifies as a startup or small enterprise. If you hold MSME or Udyam registration or DPIIT recognition, have the certificate ready before you file — the fee is fixed at filing and is not adjusted afterwards.

Every official fee across the life of a trademark

The application fee is the first line, not the whole bill. This is the full picture from the First Schedule, at both rates. Anything marked "not allowed" cannot be filed on paper at all.

Two observations from that table that people rarely expect.

Renewal has no concession. The reduced applicant rate exists only for Entry 1 and for expedited processing. Renewal is ₹9,000 e-filed per class for a sole proprietor and a multinational alike. A three-class portfolio costs ₹27,000 to renew every ten years.

Restoration is the expensive mistake. Missing a renewal date turns a ₹9,000 renewal into ₹13,500 within six months, and ₹18,000 after that — per class. Renewal is worth diarising.

The Madrid handling fee of ₹5,000 is only the Indian Registry's charge for certifying and transmitting an international application; WIPO's own international fees are separate and are not in this Schedule. See international trademark registration if you are filing beyond India.

What affects the cost

• Applicant type — claim the lower fee with the right proof (e.g. an MSME/startup recognition)
• Number of classes — file only the classes you actually need
• Complications — objections or oppositions add cost, which is why a search up front pays off

To those three, add two more that the First Schedule makes explicit.

• Filing route. Online or paper. It is a straight ₹500 or ₹1,000 per class, for nothing gained.
• Number of marks. A word mark and a logo are two marks. If you want both protected, that is two Entry 1 fees per class — a real decision, and one worth taking deliberately rather than by default. Logo trademark registration sets out when the separate filing earns its cost.

Government fee by scope, worked out

Because the fee multiplies by class and by mark, the useful number is not ₹4,500 — it is ₹4,500 times whatever your scope actually is. These are the e-filing totals.

Add ₹500 per class per mark at the concessional rate, or ₹1,000 otherwise, for every one of those filed on paper instead of online.

The table is worth sitting with before you decide scope, because the two multipliers compound. A founder who casually decides to protect both the word and the logo across three classes has made a ₹27,000 decision at the concessional rate and a ₹54,000 one otherwise — and committed to renewing all six filings at ₹9,000 each in ten years.

When each fee actually falls due

Nothing is paid in a lump. The stack arrives in instalments, and only the first line is certain.

The pattern to notice: the contingent lines are the ones that make quotations look wrong in hindsight. A quotation that covers filing only is not dishonest — but it is not the cost of getting registered either, because nobody can price an objection that has not been raised yet. What an honest quotation does is name the contingent stages and say what each would cost if it arises.

The ten-year and twenty-year cost of ownership

A trademark is not a one-off purchase. Section 25(1) gives a ten-year term and Section 25(2) allows indefinite renewal, so the real figure is the cost of holding the right for as long as the brand exists.

For one mark in two classes, government fees only, e-filed, assuming no objection and no opposition:

The concession narrows over time and never returns, because it applies at filing only. Over twenty years an individual applicant pays ₹45,000 against a company's ₹54,000 — a 17% difference, not the 50% the headline application figures suggest. Anyone presenting the concessional rate as a halving of lifetime cost is quoting the first line and stopping.

A worked example

A Jaipur textile business, holding a Udyam registration as a small enterprise, wants to register one word mark in two classes: Class 24 for fabrics and Class 25 for clothing.

Had the same business filed as a private limited company without startup or small-enterprise status, the government fee would have been ₹9,000 per class — ₹18,000 for the same two classes. Had it filed on paper at the concessional rate, ₹10,000. The applicant category and the filing route together move the government fee by a factor of two.

Now suppose an examination report arrives citing an earlier mark in Class 25 only. The business divides the application on Form TM-M (₹1,800) so Class 24 proceeds, and amends the Class 25 specification to exclude the conflicting goods (₹900). That is ₹2,700 in additional government fee, plus whatever the reply is professionally worth. If it had instead needed to bring a rectification against the cited mark, that is Form TM-O at ₹2,700 per class, and a separate proceeding.

Government fee versus professional fee

This is the distinction that decides whether a quotation is honest.

The government fee is set by the First Schedule, is identical whoever files it, goes to the Trade Marks Registry, and GST does not apply to it.

The professional fee is what an agent, attorney or firm charges for the work: the search, the class advice, drafting the specification, filing, tracking, replying to objections, and appearing at hearings. It varies between providers, and GST does apply to it.

A quotation that gives you one number has hidden which is which. Two specific things go wrong when it does. You cannot tell whether the provider claimed the concessional applicant rate on your behalf or quietly paid the higher one. And if GST has been applied to the blended figure, you are being charged GST on money that went to the Registry.

Ask for two lines. The government fee, stated per class and per mark, with the applicant category named. And the professional fee, with GST shown separately.

What a professional fee should actually buy at the filing stage: a search that covers phonetic and device variants rather than the exact word only; a reasoned class recommendation, because the specification defines the scope of the right; a specification drafted to the goods you sell, since it can be narrowed later but never broadened; correct entry of the user detail under Rule 25(1), which is what any later distinctiveness argument depends on; and monitoring of the file so the one-month examination reply window under Rule 33(4) is not missed.

A smart way to save

Two simple moves cut cost: file as the right (lower-fee) applicant type with proof, and run a search first so you avoid a wasted filing and an objection reply.

Four more, all of them structural rather than clever.

File online. The concession for e-filing is built into every entry in the Schedule.

File only the classes you sell in. Each class is a full fee at filing and again at every renewal for as long as you hold the mark. A speculative fourth class costs ₹4,500 now and ₹9,000 every ten years thereafter.

Get the specification right the first time. The proviso to Rule 37 permits narrowing but forbids substituting a new specification. Filing too narrow means filing again, at full fee.

Diarise the renewal. The ten-year term runs from the filing date, not from the date the certificate issued, because Section 23(1) provides that a mark when registered is registered as of the date of the application. Missing the date costs 50% more within six months and 100% more after that.

The deadlines that cost money

Most of the avoidable spend on a trademark comes from missing a date, not from choosing the wrong provider.

The last row is the expensive one, and it is not really about ₹9,000. Under Section 23(1) a registration dates back to the application, so re-filing after a lapse puts you behind anything filed in the meantime. What that costs depends entirely on who filed in the gap.

What not registering costs

Worth stating, because it is the comparison that makes the fee look small.

Section 27(1) provides that no person is entitled to institute any proceeding to prevent, or to recover damages for, the infringement of an unregistered trade mark. The statutory rights that registration confers, under Sections 28 and 29, simply do not exist without it.

Section 27(2) preserves the action for passing off, so an unregistered brand with real goodwill is not defenceless. But passing off requires you to prove goodwill, misrepresentation and damage on evidence — a longer and far more expensive road than asserting a registered right. The gap between ₹4,500 and what that litigation costs is not close.

What the cost is not

It is not a payment for registration. The Entry 1 fee buys examination of the application. Section 18(4) leaves the Registrar free to refuse, accept absolutely, or accept subject to amendments, conditions or limitations. A refused application does not get its fee back.

There is one narrow refund route and it is worth knowing before you file a borderline mark. Section 133(1) lets you ask the Registrar for preliminary advice on whether a mark appears prima facie distinctive — Form TM-M, ₹1,800 e-filed. Section 133(2) then provides that if the advice was affirmative, you applied within three months of it, and the Registrar afterwards objects that the mark is not distinctive, you may withdraw and have the filing fee repaid. Rule 35 requires that notice of withdrawal within one month of the examination report communication. For a descriptive name you are unsure about, ₹1,800 is a cheap way to find out before committing ₹4,500 or ₹9,000 a class.

Expedition is not insurance. Rule 34 gets your application examined ordinarily within three months of the request, for ₹20,000 or ₹40,000 per class per mark. It buys a place in the queue, not a decision in your favour, and Rule 34(2) lets the Registrar cap how many requests are accepted.

Common mistakes

• Paying the higher company fee when an individual/MSME rate applied
• Filing in unnecessary classes
• Skipping a search and then paying for an objection reply
• Comparing only all-in prices that hide the government fee
• Filing on paper without noticing the online rate exists, and paying ₹500 or ₹1,000 a class for nothing
• Reading ₹4,500 as the total — it is per class and per mark, so two classes is ₹9,000 and a word mark plus a logo in two classes is ₹18,000
• Assuming the concession carries through to renewal. It does not. Renewal is ₹9,000 per class for everyone
• Budgeting only to filing. Objection replies, hearings and oppositions are real stages with their own forms and fees
• Letting GST be charged on the government fee. It applies to professional fees only
• Missing the renewal date, which is the most expensive avoidable error on this page
• Treating the Registry fee as the cost of the brand. The bigger number is usually what a rebrand costs after a refusal

What to do next

Work out how many classes you actually need with the trademark class finder, because that number multiplies everything on this page. Then search the register before you spend anything, since a wasted filing fee is not recoverable. When you are ready, trademark registration covers the search, the class advice and the TM-A filing, with the government fee shown as its own line.

For the sequence those fees attach to, read the registration process. If a report has already landed, the fees change depending on which objection it raises — Section 9 and Section 11 each set out what answering them costs.

Trademark protection is one of the best-value investments a brand can make — especially when you claim the right applicant fee and file in the right classes.

Sources and currency

Applies to: India. Fees are the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, as published by IP India and read on 19 August 2026. All figures are in Indian rupees and exclude professional fees.

Every fee in this article was read line by line from IP India's own First Schedule table on 19 August 2026, not from a secondary source. The Schedule prices most entries twice, for physical filing and for e-filing, and this article states both. The First Schedule does not define "Individual", "Startup" or "Small Enterprise", and no official guidance on the proof required for the concessional rate was available to verify, so none is stated here. No effective-from date is claimed for the current figures, because the notification could not be captured in this session.

• First Schedule to the Trade Mark Rules 2017 — the complete forms and official fees table (IP India)
• Trade Marks Rules, 2017 — Rule 10 (fees), Rule 22 (search), Rule 23 (TM-A), Rule 27 (division), Rule 33 (examination), Rule 34 (expedited processing), Rule 37 (amendment), Rule 109 (extension of time)
• Trade Marks Act, 1999 (Act 47 of 1999), consolidated as on 1 June 2026 — Sections 18(2), 21, 23, 25, 45, 131, 133 and 157
• Form TM-A — application for registration of a trade mark (IP India)
• Trade marks e-filing portal — the only route that gets the lower fee column (IP India)