Column: Shake off that ‘fake’ addiction

In 2005, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that international trade in counterfeit and pirated products was nearly $200 billion. A study by Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy, which is under the International Chamber of Commerce in 2008 estimated the impact of smuggled/counterfeited products on the G-20 economies to be a staggering $455-650 billion. It has been projected that by 2015 the impact of smuggled and counterfeited goods will be between $1,220-1,770 billion. This is a serious issue and it will take concerted action by the society and the government to deal with this growing menace.

 

The Indian economy is growing at a fast pace, but as is apparent, so is the menace of smuggling and counterfeiting. The socio-economic impact of these anti-social activities in seven critical Indian sectors namely auto components, alcohol, computer hardware, fast-moving consumer goods, mobile phones and tobacco. While illegal trade in auto components causes a loss of R9,198 crore to the industry, other figures are equally worrisome. The loss is R5,626 crore in alcohol, R4,725 crore in computer hardware, over R35,000 crore in FMCG (which includes both personal and packaged goods), R9,042 crore in mobile phones and R8,965 crore in tobacco. The total loss calculated from all sectors in 2012 alone is nearly R73,000 crore.

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/column-shake-off-that-fake-addiction/1181462