Fake brands flood India

New Delhi, Apr 26 (UNI) India has 60 'Nike's, 65 'Rolex's and 217 'Intel's. Such is the impact of counterfeiting and piracy that over 400 companies begin with the word 'Reliance', an industry chamber said today.

''India losses over Rs 1,208 million due to piracy,'' the chamber added.

''As a result of such piracy, the costs are ultimately passed to consumers, governments are deprived of tax revenues, jobs are lost and much research and innovation never happens,'' said Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and promotion, Government of India, Dr Ajay Dua at a seminar organised by industry body Ficci on 'Counterfeiting and Piracy'.

Mr Dua went on to clarify that an inter-ministerial group had been set up two months back to look into the recommendations of the core group.

He added that there was no dearth of law to tackle the issue and what was needed was implementation of the same. ''Counterfeiters and pirates are thwarting economic development. A good combination of both technological and legal measures alone can provide a viable solution in the contemporary digital era,'' he added.

Meanwhile, Chairperson Core Group on Piracy Ms Shabana Azmi said, ''Since there is no single solution to this problem, it was clear that the business community and all stakeholders must work together to attack this growing threat on multiple fronts,'' She urged everyones involvement and ''to join forces with us and to build a united front in this fight.'' Piracy and counterfeiting has failed to become an emotive issue and doesn't hurt the conscience of people. Thought piracy is taken as merely a liberty taken, it is in reality a theft, said Ms Azmi.

Delving deeper into the problem Ms Azmi talked about having a inter-ministerial group comprising of all the departments like IT, HR, Law and Justice and Telecom so that recommendations could be given to the government to effectively combat the problem.

She added that curbing, raids and control has not resulted in the desired effects. She felt that a dedicated police force was needed so that the already overburdened police did not have an additional task at hand.

Advisor to Ficci V K Topa said, ''Piracy and counterfeiting now affect all of us and all our companies. This illegal activity is spiraling out of control. We have taken certain initiatives like a proposal to have a separate court to deal with counterfeiting and piracy in Kolkata.'' He added that various other methods were being used to create awareness among people about the ill effects.

UNI