India’s GI Conundrum: Saving Heritage or a Paper Label?
Imagine buying a beautiful Pashmina shawl at a market in Delhi only to find out later that it wasn’t even a Kashmir-made Pashmina but mass produced in some other factory somewhere else. Or consuming tea packaged “Darjeeling Tea” yet made from tea leaves grown outside India. That is the true test of Geographical Indications (GIs) in India—a system set up to help preserve and advance unique, locality-based products yet now marred by flaws.
What are Geographical Indications (GIs)?
A Geographical Indication (GI) is a sign attributed to goods manufactured within a given geographical area and which possess characteristics, reputation, or attributes tied to that region. Take Kolhapuri Chappals, Mysore Sandal Soap, or Basmati Rice—its identity is inescapably tied to where it came from.
India passed The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act in 1999 to safeguard these products. The aim was simple—protect the interests of indigenous manufacturers, sell traditional products globally, and prevent duplicated products from making gains off the name of authentic products. However, more than two decades on, it’s clear that India’s GI system is failing in its promise.
Role of GI Tags in India
India is a cultural repository and heritage of age-old crafts. There are Chanderi silk sarees to Malabar pepper, each state contributing its own product based on local knowledge, geography, and history. GIs not only protect these products but also enable:
- Conservation of cultural heritage
- Promotion of rural development
- Market differentiation
- Prevention of misuse and counterfeiting
- Export and foreign exchange lift
In principle, GI protection could be capable of empowering domestic producers, farmers, and craftsmen by granting them sole rights and international acceptance. Unfortunately, in practice, things are not the same.
Present problems being faced:
- Lack of Awareness
The biggest obstacle is that most producers—especially those in tribal and rural areas—do not even know what GI is or how it can help them. Uninformed, they are unable to apply for GI protection or take advantage of it. Local communities get left behind as government agencies or large corporations fill the gap.
- Inefficient Registration Process
Getting a GI registration in India is an administrative nightmare. The process demands clumsy documentary proof of association of a product with a given region, which is not only in a nation like India, where traditions are more oral. For example, traditional wine Judima of Dima tribe was denied GI status because they did not have enough paperwork, though the product’s history was apparent.
- Government Ownership Instead of Community
Interestingly, nearly 64% of the first 100 registered GIs in India were filed by government departments. The law is ambiguous on whether governments should own GI rights. Ideally, the producer groups should own and control GIs, but in India, government departments own the rights, which may lead to cronyism, inefficiency, or lack of accountability.
- No Actual Benefit to Local Producers
Even when GIs are registered, the farmers and artisans here rarely gain. There is no organized system to get them better prices, protection against fake products, or access to bigger markets. Middlemen and big companies capture the value instead.
- Rampant Violations
The misuse of GI tags is common. To put it into context, low-cost imitations of Banarasi silk sarees are made on a mass scale in Surat and sold under the brand Banarasi. Similarly, Chinese silk is even sold as genuine Indian silk on occasion. Spurious Darjeeling Tea or Basmati Rice keeps pouring into overseas markets despite initiatives undertaken by India.
- No Post-Registration Support
India’s GI regime focuses mainly on registration. There is no follow-up for marketing, quality control, branding, or assertion of rights. Thus, while GIs are being registered on paper, there’s no system in practice to market or defend them later.
Case Study: The Case of Parma Ham
A more apt comparison is with Italy’s Parma Ham. There, manufacturers formed a Consortium that does it all—quality control, selling the product, protecting its image, and even organizing events like the Parma Ham Festival. Strict quality inspections, clear branding, and consumer awareness have made Parma Ham a global brand. India lacks such an ecosystem for its GIs. The majority of Indian GIs remain un-known, un-protected, and under-leveraged.
What Needs to Change?
There are several methods to repair the broken GI system in India:
- Grassroots Awareness: More workshops, campaigns, and outreach in local languages to sensitize producers about GIs.
- Flexible Documentation Requirements: Permit oral traditions and indigenous knowledge as legitimate proof, especially for tribal and traditional products.
- Clarity on Ownership: Define who can own GI rights—preferably local producer groups, not bureaucrats.
- Marketing & Branding: Design generic logos for Indian GIs, organize marketing campaigns, and associate GIs with tourism and regional stories.
- Good Quality Control: Implement proper inspection procedures to ensure that GI products meet the quality standards.
- Financial Support: Offer loans, subsidies, or support programs to facilitate producer associations to sell and protect their GI rights.
- Enforcement: Regularly check and act against counterfeit products and improper use of GI tags.
India’s rich cultural heritage needs to be better protected. GIs can bring rural economies out of poverty, help keep centuries-old traditions alive, and give India a competitive advantage in the international market. But without effective post-registration support, promotion, and enforcement, they will continue to be paper promises. It’s time India stopped regarding GIs as a vanity project and began to recognize them as potent economic and cultural assets. The system needs a drastic overhaul, and not just that—it needs it urgently.
Author:– Saaksshi Singh, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com or IP & Legal Filing.
