FICCI-CASCADE Seminar on ‘Curbing Counterfeiting and Smuggling – An Imperative for Indian Economy, Punjab & Haryana

23/6/2013, Chandigarh

The 10th consultation was inaugurated by His Excellency Shri Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab and Administrator UT, Chandigarh, Punjab; Mr.Rajinder Gupta, Chairman FICCI Advisory Council(Northern States) & Chairman Trident Group; Ms. Kalpana Reddy, First Secretary for Intellectual Property, US Patent & Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce; Mr. Raj Chengappa, Editorin-Chief, The Tribune, Chandigarh; Shri P. S. Pruthi, Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise;Mr. Ashok Aggarwal, Advocate General, Punjab; Mr. Alok Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police,Chandigarh, joined the consultation.

Giving a clarion call for taking effective step to curb the flow of fake and counterfeit goods into the market Hon’ble Governor said that it has been adversely affecting the economy of the country. This has become a very complicated problem which can be solved by all those who are involved in the activities of producing commodities and goods, services and intellectual property, traders and media.

He added that consumers must be aware of what they are using and what they are paying for.”Awareness is a better tool for the protection of consumer rights”, Shri Shivraj Patil said. He extended his support by welcoming suggestions from FICCI and promised to put it before the center to find a solution for this problem. The seminar also discussed the role of media in increasing awareness on the subject. He appreciated FICCI for talking up this issue and mentioned that it has a long way in creating awareness and involving enforcement agencies.

Experts exchanged the views and were alarmed at the mushrooming of large and well organized business with some of India largest manufacturer of illegal products supplying over crores of illegal products.