Traditional Knowledge, Intellectual Property and Sustainable Economic Development in India: Reimagining Governance, Innovation and Benefit-Sharing

Abstract India is one of the world's most biologically and culturally diverse nations, and its vast reservoir of traditional knowledge (TK) — spanning Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, folk medicine, agricultural practices, textile crafts and biodiversity-linked community wisdom — constitutes both a cultural heritage and an economic asset. Yet the classical intellectual property (IP) framework, built around individual authorship, novelty and a fixed term of protection, sits uneasily with knowledge that is collectively held, orally transmitted and continuously evolving across generations. This paper examines the interface between traditional knowledge, intellectual property law and sustainable economic development in India. It reviews the existing legal and institutional architecture — the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the Patents Act, 1970, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, and the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) — alongside international instruments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Nagoya Protocol and the 2024 WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge. The paper identifies persistent governance gaps in access and benefit-sharing, weak grassroots participation and under-utilisation of TK for enterprise creation, and proposes a reimagined governance model built on community-centred documentation, equitable benefit-sharing, sui generis protection and TK-linked innovation ecosystems that can advance India's sustainable development goals.