Smita Kulkrani-Bhutkar
Team Leader - Chemical/PharmaceuticalSmita serves as a Team Lead in the Chemistry, Pharmaceutical, and Biotechnology domains at RKD. A qualified Indian Patent Agent, she supports the Chemical and Pharmaceutical team in matters related to patent drafting, Indian and foreign prosecution, litigation, patentability and infringement analysis, freedom-to-operate assessments, invalidation studies, prior art and structure searches, and patent landscaping/patent mapping.
Smita holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry and brings over 24 years of professional experience, including more than 18 years in the field of Intellectual Property (IP). She began her career in the Organic Chemistry Division at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, and later worked as a Senior Chemist at a leading Indian pharmaceutical company, where she conducted research on anticancer drugs. She also spent a year as a research student at Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.
In 2006, Smita transitioned into the IP domain, joining CSIR-URDIP (Unit for Research and Development of Information Products)—a Government of India organization—as a Patent Analyst. Since 2014, she has been a key member of RKD, contributing her deep scientific and IP expertise to a wide range of projects.
In addition to her technical and professional accomplishments, Smita holds Postgraduate Diplomas in Patent Law and Cheminformatics.