Lok Sabha Question No. 383 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-08
Subject: Sale of Counterfeit Khadi
Ministry: MICRO,SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Asked by: Rahul Gandhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 383 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2022

## SALE OF COUNTERFEIT KHADI

## 383. SHRI RAHUL GANDHI:

Will the Minister of MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has assessed the adverse impact of the sale of counterfeit Khadi and the unauthorised use of the Khadi brand on Khadi cooperatives;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  initiated  action  to  prevent  the  sale  of  counterfeit  khadi products, particularly on e-commerce portals;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has extended support to Khadi Cooperatives reeling under the impact of the amendment to the Flag Code permitting the manufacture of machine-made polyester flags; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SHRI BHANU PRATAP SINGH VERMA)

(a) & (b): Textile Committee, Ministry of Textiles has been engaged by Khadi and Village Industries  Commission  (KVIC) to  inspect  the  Khadi  production  processes  through  the  physical inspection  to  ensure  hand  spun  and  hand  weaving  process  and  draw  the  Khadi  samples  from laboratory testing.

KVIC had issued 2172 notices to entities engaged in the unauthorized sale of products in the name of Khadi, against which 447 entities have apologized for unknowingly using the Khadi Trade Mark, 84 entities have given undertaking to the effect that they will not use Khadi Trade Marks in future.

- (c) & (d): The following steps to prevent the sale of counterfeit Khadi products:
1. KVIC has obtained Trade Mark Registration for the wordmark 'KHADI', under most of the classes including classes-24 & 25 (textiles and textile products).
2. KVIC has appointed 7 Trade Mark Consultants, who are actively watching the Trade Mark infringements by third parties and issuing legal notices to the unauthorized users.
3. KVIC is also removing the links regarding the online sale of fake Khadi products from ecommerce platforms and social media on a continuous basis.  So far, KVIC removed 2487 links from Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc.

4. KVIC is constantly opposing the applications for registration of Trade Marks filed by third parties  with  the  word  'KHADI'  as  part  of  their  Trade  Mark.    So  far,  KVIC  filed  185 oppositions.
5. KVIC  is  also  filing  rectification  applications  before  the  Trade  Mark  Authorities  for cancellation of the Trade Marks of the third parties already registered, which contains the word  'KHADI'  as  part  of  its  Trade  Mark.  So  far,  KVIC  already  filed  43  rectification applications.

(e) & (f): As  per,  MHA  Order  No.  02/01/2020-Public  (Part-III)  dated  03.12.2021  has amended Flag Code of India 2002 that at Part-I,  Para l.2  'The National  Flag of  India  shall  be made of hand spun and hand woven or machine made, cotton/polyester/wool/silk Khadi bunting'. According to the MHA order, hand spun, hand woven Khadi bunting cloth is stil1 continued even though  decentralized  for  manufacturing  of  the  Flag  out  of  polyester  or  machine-made  fibers. Three Khadi Institutions are holding BIS license for manufacturing the IS-I National Flag and 7 more Khadi Institutions have been identified for obtaining the BIS license for manufacturing flag.

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