Counterfeiting, piracy leave deep holes in firms' pockets

A peek into the website of the Ministry of Company Affairs shows there are 60 companies registered by the name Niki, 217 companies registered in name of Intel, 136 companies registered as Tata and 412 companies in name of Reliance. The worst aspect is that there are not just umpteen number of illegal companies who are available in the market now-a-days, but they are flooding the market with all kinds of counterfeited and pirated products.

In Bangalore alone, the city police detected at least 13 counterfeiting and piracy cases last year worth close to Rs 6 crore. The cases has been for products like pirated DVDs & MP3s, fake ayurvedic medicines, fake ink jet cartridge, toner and raw materials, fake cellphone battery, panel and charge. The police also detected many pirated software products which include Microsoft Windows XP and Windows7 software.

According to the estimate by the industry, the music industry alone suffers a loss of Rs 600 crore every year owing to large scale piracy which is about 40 per cent now. Movie industry faces a loss of Rs 2,000 crore every year. A FICCI study conducted last year found that 37 per cent of the automobile parts available in the market today were counterfeits.

“All these indicate that there is a greater need to work towards crime against humanity and financial fraud which leaves a deep hole in the pockets of manufacturers and producers,” said Sajan Poovayya, chairman, FICCI Karnataka state council. Recently, FICCI organised a workshop on ‘Counterfeiting and Piracy’ in Bangalore which wad attended by industry leaders belonging to various sectors.

The piracy is more visible in case of counterfeit drugs which flood the market under the same name and brand as the original ones thus leaving the buyers clueless about their authenticity. The industry estimates that 20 per cent of the drugs available in the market today are spurious.

However, Karnataka State Pharmacy Council says that the lack of proper regulation of the pharmaceutical distribution system, weak drug regulatory authority and absence of a legal mandate for manufacturing and import of drugs is encouraging people to counterfeit drugs.

“To combat drug counterfeiting we need strengthening political will and commitment, promulgating appropriate legislation, establishing a national drug regulatory authority and developing standard operating procedures and guidelines for drug inspectors,” says D A Gundu Rao, president, Karnataka State Pharmacy Council.

According to B R Jagashetty, Drugs Controller, Government of Karnataka, Karnataka is the only state in the country to have three drug testing labs in India.