How Many GIs Does India Actually Have? (Reconciled)

Explainer · GI Data · Last verified October 2026

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Search for the number of registered GIs in India and you will get different answers. One page says 658. Another says 700 or more. The official register, as of 2 May 2026, lists 822 entries. If you are writing a policy note, a client advisory, a report or a school project, you need one number you can defend. This page explains why the figures differ, and which one to quote. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the numbers differ

A GI count sounds simple. It is not, because three different things get counted under one name.

Entries on the register

The Geographical Indications Registry keeps a register. Every registered application becomes one numbered entry. This is the number a registry officer would call the count of registrations.

Products

People usually mean products when they say GIs, such as Darjeeling Tea or Kanchipuram Silk. One product can show up as more than one entry. So the count of products is lower than the count of entries.

Old snapshots

Many pages copy a number from a news report or a press note. Those numbers are frozen on the date they were written. The register keeps growing, so a page that was right last year can be out of date today.

All three problems together explain why you see 658 on one site and a higher figure on another.

02The short answer

The official GI register lists 822 entries as of 2 May 2026. The widely quoted figure of 658 counts products, not entries. Both can be true at the same time, because they measure different things.

03Entries versus products: the reconciliation

The gap between 822 and 658 is 164. That gap comes from how the register is built, not from an error. Three things push the entry count above the product count.

• Word marks and logos: Some GIs are registered once for the name and again for a logo. Darjeeling Tea is a well known case, where the name and the logo were both registered. That is two entries for one product.
• Shared or split registrations: Some products are registered in more than one application, for example for different areas, producers or types. The register records each as its own entry.
• Timing: Counts built from press releases can lag behind the register. A product tally and a register tally taken on different dates will not match.

Put simply: entries are what the register holds, products are what a reader understands. The register is the source of truth for the first. The second is a summary of it.

We do not give a made-up split of the 164. The registry does not publish one table that breaks the gap down by cause, so any exact split would be a guess.

04How to quote the figure correctly

Use a sentence that names what is counted and when. Three safe examples:

• "The official GI register listed 822 entries as of 2 May 2026."
• "India has about 658 GI products, according to widely quoted figures."
• "The count of GI products is lower than the count of register entries, because some products have more than one entry."

Avoid these:

• Writing "India has 822 GIs" with no date and no word for what is counted.
• Mixing 822 and 658 in one sentence as if they were the same thing.
• Quoting a number from an old news article as the current count.

Entries are what the register holds. Products are what a reader understands. Always quote the date.

05How the count grows

The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 came into force in 2003. Registrations began in the 2004-05 financial year, and Darjeeling Tea is commonly cited as the first Indian GI.

Since then the register has grown through new applications. A GI goes through examination, publication in the GI Journal, and an opposition period before it is registered. So the count moves in steps, as batches of applications reach registration.

Many pages group GIs by type, for example handicrafts, agricultural products, food products, manufactured goods and natural goods. Handicrafts and agricultural products make up the largest groups in most published breakdowns. Category totals also change over time, and they follow the same entries versus products issue.

A GI is also different from a trade mark. A trade mark belongs to one owner. A GI belongs to a place and its producers. That is why GI records have registered proprietors and authorised users, and why one product can carry several records.

06How to check the count yourself

You do not have to trust any blog, including this one. Here is a simple way to verify.

1. Open the public GI search on the IP India GI public search and note the application numbers for the products you care about.
2. Count entries by application number, and group by product name to see where one product has more than one entry.
3. Note the date you checked. A count with no date is not a citable count.
4. Cross-check the national picture on the IP India website and, for the legal framework, the WIPO material on geographical indications.

If you are working on the registry side of IP more broadly, two related reads explain where registry data has gaps. See design search coverage gaps on IP India and journal conflicts per class for D2C brands in India. Both show why a figure from the registry needs a date and a stated method.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Counting registrations is one thing, understanding how those rights are fought over is another, and that sits in the court record. Claw gives you that view. It tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, searches 30 crore+ judgments in under 5 seconds, and covers Supreme Court judgments from 1950 and High Court judgments from 1990. So once you have your GI figure, you can see how GI rights have actually been enforced across Indian courts.

Claw does not use customer documents to train AI models. Create a FREE Claw account to research GI disputes and track a live matter by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

Primary sources used for this page. Last verified October 2026.

• IP India (Geographical Indications Registry): ipindia.gov.in
• GI public search: ipindiaservices.gov.in/GIRPublic
• WIPO, geographical indications: wipo.int/geo_indications
• Claw: clawlaw.in

The 822 figure is a register-entry count as of 2 May 2026. The 658 figure is a widely quoted product count, and its exact source date varies. Check the live register before you rely on either for a filing or a report.

09Frequently asked questions