The Booming Counterfeit Industry

            A recent trend has been emerging in economic data: the Indian counterfeit market is booming. The industry is so promising that even foreign manufacturers are cashing in. Chinese companies are increasingly “faking” popular consumer goods and causing a net loss of $5 billion each year. Most of these products are made with a “Made-in-India” tag and supplied the emerging economies of India and African countries.

            "China is a big problem everybody is facing," said S.K. Goel, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, told IANS. Goel said the big international brands like Nokia, Adidas, Reebok and Nivea were also widely counterfeited in China and supplied in India and other parts of the world. K.K. Vyas, Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police, said that police have already seized and confiscated many counterfeit products in the nation’s capital already.

            Vyas stresses the need for increased government involvement in the punishment of manufacturers and importers. "Punishment needs to be enhanced. Also there is need that judiciary addresses these issues quickly.” “Counterfeiting is a big menace. It is hurting everybody - consumers, industry and the exchequer," said Anil Rajput, chairman of the anti-smuggling and anti-counterfeiting committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

There is no denying that the black money market in India is rampant. India currently tops the list for illegal money suppliers in the entire world, estimated to be almost US $1.5 trillion stored in the form of unaccounted money. According to data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Association, India has more black money than the rest of the world combined. Indian Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the countries national debt, and if this black money is seized and brought back to the country, India has the potential to become one of the richest countries in the world.

-Drew M.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Made-in-India-faked-in-China-5bn-loss/articleshow/11325880.cms