The country is committed to the promotion of accelerated growth in the industrial sector. The role of foreign direct investment to support domestic investment for achieving high level of economic development is well recognised, he said.

Addressing the assemblies of member states of World Intellectual Property Organisations (Wipo) here, Bakht said there had been a significant spurt in intellectual property activity in India since liberalisation with filings of trademark applications doubling and that of patents increasing three fold.

``We are seized by the need to strengthen and restructure our intellectual property systems to meet these challenges,'' he said.

The government was proposing to modernise its patent offices through a project estimated to costabout US$18 million, he added.

This is the most significant effort ever made by our country to modernise the intellectual property administration. As a part of the project plan, we propose to develop the infrastructure, computerise and re-engineer work practices, and enhance the skills of human resources, he said.

The plan to modernise and restructure the patent office has assumed greater urgency with our decision to accede to the Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Bakht said.

India has also expressed its intent to associate with the implementation of the global information technology network proposed by Wipo in view of its perceived strength in the field, he said.

The software industry in India is currently worth $2.2 billion and the average rate of growth in the last few years has been about 52 per cent.

It is the recognition of the excellence of our professionals that in 1997 more than 142 companies listed in Fortune 500 outsourced their software requirements from India, Bakhtsaid.

He, however, said it was important to strike a delicate balance between the imperatives of intellectual property protection and acceleration of the process of sustained and equitable development.

Bakht informed that the government would cooperate with the Wipo to organise the first ever regional symposium on intellectual property in the field of traditional medicines at New Delhi next month.