MUMBAI: Counterfeiting and smuggling activities have been increasing at an annual rate of 15% in the country and would cost government Rs 1.6 trillion by 2016, revealed the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (Ficci) anti-counterfeiting committee.
The revelation was made during a 90-minute programme held by the Committee against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (Cascade) here. The programme was aimed at sensitizing police officers about the impact of counterfeit and smuggled goods.
The programme was inaugurated by Sanjay Kumar, joint commissioner of Police, Pune. He said counterfeiting and smuggling activities have created a voluminous parallel economy which was endangering the society at large. “Currently, issues related to counterfeiting and smuggling is low on priority list for policemen. However, while all conventional crimes per lakh of population are decreasing, crimes like cyber crimes, counterfeiting and piracy have shown a remarkable rise,” Kumar said.
Deep Chand, special commissioner of police, Delhi (retd) and also advisor of the Cascade programme, said: “With the globalization of trades, the problem has turned into a global epidemic. These activities are also a major source of funds for terrorist activities and should be curbed with an iron hand.”
Chand cited a Ficci report, which studied counterfeiting in seven sectors, including auto components, alcohol, computer hardware, fast moving consumer goods (personal goods and packaged foods), mobile phones and tobacco.
The report had said the government suffered loss worth Rs 26,190 crore in 2012 because of counterfeiting. The study further estimates an annual sales loss to industry at Rs 72,969 crore.
Suhas Tuljapurkar, director, Legasis Services, said police officers are responsible for conducting raids, however, the onus lies on the companies to provide policemen with proper documentation on how to differentiate an original product to a counterfeited one.
