What Trademark Registration Actually Costs in India

Trademark cost in India is often presented as a single number, when it's actually two separate things with very different characteristics — one fixed and identical everywhere, one variable and structured very differently from provider to provider. Understanding the difference matters more than finding the lowest headline number.

The fixed part: government fees

The government (statutory) fee is paid directly to the Trade Marks Registry and is the same regardless of who files on your behalf:

₹4,500 per class for individuals, startups, and MSMEs with valid registration under the applicable government scheme
₹9,000 per class for other applicants, including most companies

This is charged per class — three classes means this fee three times — and no legitimate provider can discount or waive it, since it doesn't go to them.

The variable part: professional fees

This is what you're paying someone for the actual work: the clearance search, classification, drafting and filing the application, and — critically — whatever happens if the Registry raises an objection or the application is opposed. This is where filing services genuinely differ, and where a headline number alone tells you very little.

Why the headline number is a misleading way to compare

A significant share of trademark applications draw an examination report objection at some point in the process — it's a routine part of the system, not a rare complication. That means the real question isn't "what does filing cost," it's "what does filing plus the objection response I'll likely need actually cost."

Two providers can quote very different headline numbers and end up costing about the same in practice, depending on one structural question: is responding to an objection included in the quoted fee, or billed separately if and when it happens? A lower headline price that excludes objection handling, hearing representation, or follow-up work can end up costing more in total than a higher, all-inclusive quote — and the gap often isn't visible until months after you've already paid the first invoice.

Questions worth asking before comparing prices at all

Does the quoted fee include a response if the Registry raises an objection, or is that billed as a separate task later?
Does it include representation at a show-cause hearing, if the application is listed for one?
Is there a subscription or recurring fee, or is it a one-time cost for the filing itself?
If the application is later opposed, is that quoted as part of the original engagement, or as a new, separate one — and is it quoted before the work starts, or billed after?
Who is actually representing you if the matter escalates — see our explainer on trademark agent vs. advocate for why that's not a purely cosmetic question.

The bottom line

Comparing trademark filing options on the headline number alone is comparing incomplete figures. The government fee is fixed and easy to compare directly. The professional fee is only meaningfully comparable once you know what it actually includes across the full lifecycle a filing can go through — not just the initial submission. See our guide to the full trademark lifecycle for the complete picture of what "protecting a mark" actually involves beyond the first filing.

For an interactive breakdown — government fee and professional fee shown as separate line items, for your entity type and class count — use the trademark cost calculator.