The Indian economy loses Rs 1.17 lakh crore due to smuggling & counterfeiting in five prominent sectors including Capital Goods (Machinery and Parts) and Consumer (Electronics) Durables, according to a FICCI Cascade report.
The goods sales from counterfeiting is expected to double globally to Rs 119.7 lakh crore by 2022. India has been no exception to the menace.
Key to curb this menace is to educate the customer and spread awareness in the market about easy identification of genuine products based on product attributes and provide easy access to brand's authorized sales & service channel.
Among others, Honda India Power Products (HIPP) is leading the fight against this menace. HIPP has launched its "Know your Honda" campaign to educate its valued customers and through its IP Cell is also actively monitoring online and offline sales platforms to flag any unscrupulous activity enabling it to take stringent action against law breakers.
Commenting on the menace around counterfeiting, Bejon Kumar Misra, renowned consumer activist said, "Counterfeiting is a global problem of enormous scale, impacting virtually every industry sector around the world including India. Such malpractices directly impact health, economy, education and society. India is suffering significant economic, health and safety consequences as a result of these widespread malicious practices."
"Businesses of all scale and sizes are observing widespread proliferation of counterfeit technology or equipment, and suffer unanticipated costs in breakage, business downtime, and unenforceable warranties. We are working alongside government to create awareness among consumers and strengthen measures to empower consumers to make informed choice that will keep such peddlers at bay and help curb this problem," he added.
As per the FICCI Cascade Report, trade in smuggling, contraband, counterfeit and pirated goods has risen steadily in the last few years and now stands at 3.3 per cent of global trade. A spiralling trend of spurious products has been a cause of concern for various consumer activists and law enforcers too.
The problem has become especially acute in the past few years with uncertified players from neighbouring developing countries trying to set up base here locally. In India, prominent ports like Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi that act like a feeder market have become a hub for unscrupulous peddlers to crack bulk deals for supplying fake goods and cheap imitation of genuine products.
The Government of India has initiated various steps to address counterfeiting by improving its IP legal framework and enforcement system and by modernizing its IP administration. Some major achievements include an increase in the level of computerization, providing Internet connectivity among the various offices, creating an online facility for filing and processing patent and trademark applications, and computerizing intellectual property records to create databases.
