India’s GI Tag is growing hand that promises higher economic gains, fostering quality production and better distribution of profits. Hiraman looks at the GI phenomenon.
Bhivapuri chilli, Kandangi saree, Chikri craft and leather toys of Indore have one thing in common. All are members of an elite group—the Geographical Indication or GI tag.
GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. To function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.
In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production.
A GI tag is conferred upon agricultural, natural, or manufactured products originating from a specific geographical region, signifying unique characteristics and qualities. Essentially, it serves as a trademark in the international market. There are 34 classes of products that can get GI tags—from chemicals and paint to foodstuffs, handicrafts, musical instruments and even firearms and locomotives.
A GI right enables those who have the right to use the indication to prevent its use by a third party whose product does not conform to the applicable standards. For example, in the jurisdictions in which the Darjeeling geographical indication is protected, producers of Darjeeling tea can exclude the use of the term “Darjeeling” for tea not grown in their tea gardens or not produced according to the standards set out in the code of practice for the geographical indication.
GI tags are issued by the Geographical Indication Registry under the Department of Industry Promotion and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. As of 2023, over 400 products from India have been awarded GI tags. In the beginning of 2024, seven more were added to the list.
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka lead in GI
The top five states in India which hold a maximum number of GI tags include Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Kerala. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka hold the maximum number of GI tags followed by Kerala with 35 GI tags, Uttar Pradesh with 34 GI tags and Maharashtra with 31 GI tags.
In recent months the Gucci mushroom, one of the most expensive mushrooms in the world, from the state of Jammu and Kashmir, was given the GI tag.
The bitter war over the Rasogolla appears to have ended in a draw—the GI was granted to Odisha for the ‘Odisha Rasogolla’, less than two years after West Bengal won its own GI tag for the delectable eastern sweet.
However, the battle for the ownership of Basmati is still on. India’s most esteemed agricultural product, Basmati, is grown in Punjab and has the GI for the same. The Madhya Pradesh (MP) government is pushing for the GI tag for Basmati rice produced in approximately a dozen districts of the state.
Basmati exporters have cautioned against diluting the GI tag by including MP in the Basmati classification, highlighting that GI tags are exclusively granted to Basmati grown in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), spanning seven states – Punjab, Haryana, some districts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Western Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
Varieties such as Dehraduni Basmati, Amritsar Basmati, and Tarawari Basmati have gained fame over centuries. Presently, premium quality Basmati enjoys a “zero-duty” status in European countries, which would cease if the GI is extended to MP.
GI for Hapus has failed
Has the GI tag helped in the marketing of Hapus? Most growers of the premium quality mango—originating from the Konkan belt of Maharashtra—which received the tag in 2018, think otherwise. They feel that GI-tagging a product is not a guarantee of authenticity, security and legal protection, as promised.
In the last couple of years, mangoes from Malawi, in Southeast Africa as well as Karnataka are being sold as Hapus. Then there is the case of adulteration—the practice of replacing four to five mangoes in a crate of a dozen with cheaper varieties or the use of non-Hapus varieties for manufacturing products such as juice, pickle, amras, barfi and wine while claiming it is made from Hapus.
While there are pitfalls of GI, however, globally GI products are flourishing. The EU has a USD 87 billion GI economy. China has also done very well with GI, strengthening e-commerce in rural areas and actively promoting agricultural special product brands in less developed areas.
Several studies show that the patents and copyright protection of products under GIs result in higher economic gains, fostering quality production and better distribution of profits.
Amazon’s local to global programme has taken Indian producers and their products such as Delta Leather Corporation’s leather and SVA Organics’s organic products to 18 global markets in over 200 countries, increasing demand and company size by as much as 300 times.