ASPA Report 'The State Of Counterfeiting In India 2021'

Observing World Anti-Counterfeiting Day in June every year, ASPA unveil their latest edition of report “The State of Counterfeiting In India – 2021”. The report studies and highlights the trends of counterfeiting incidents reported in India for the period January 2018 to December 2020, providing special insight on 2020 incidents. 

ASPA works closely with global authorities such as International Hologram Manufacturers Association, Counterfeit Intelligence Bureau and Interpol. In India, the Association is working with FICCI (CASCADE), CII, ACMA, Indian Beverage Association, Pesticides Manufacturers Association of India (PMFAI) & other leading industry bodies.

The key findings of the report are as follows: 

*The number of counterfeit incidents in India increased by average 20% year to year growth between 2018 to 2020 17% between 2019 to 2020.

*The top 5 sectors which have been affected the most are Pharmaceuticals, Tobacco, FMCG Packaged Goods, Currency & Alcohol. Incidents reported in these sectors constitute more than 84 percent of total counterfeit incident reported. There was a sharp spike in crimes related to illicit liquor, smuggling of tobacco products and pharmaceutical products especially PPE kits and sanitizers, etc during the COVID-19 lockdown.

*States including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Odisha are amongst top ten States which need urgent attention in respect to counterfeit incidents requiring more detailed analysis of the issue followed by stringent anti-counterfeiting policy mechanisms and implementations.

* Tobacco products face the highest jump in 2020 over 2019 and 2018. According to a query response raised in the Lok Sabha, Indian authorities seized illegally imported cigarettes worth INR 1,772 crore between April 2020 and February 2021. That compares with seizures worth INR 187.6 crore in the previous financial year.

* Counterfeiting activities are not limited to high-end luxury items. Common day-to-day items including cumin seeds, mustard cooking oil, ghee, hair oil, soaps, baby care and medicine are increasingly reported counterfeited by criminals.

Counterfeiters are taking advantage of the high demand for medicines, health supplements, safety products, hygiene products and other essentials created due to the COVID crisis and contaminating the market by selling fake and sub-standard products threatening the lives of our paramedical professionals, security volunteers, patients and society at large.