India’s Khadi and Village Industries Commission’s firm move has ensured e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and others to remove over 160 web links selling products in the brand name of “Khadi”, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry said on Saturday.
In a statement today, KVIC has said that the development comes in the wake of KVIC serving legal notices to over 1,000 firms using the brand name “Khadi India” to sell their products and thus causing damage to its reputation and the loss of work to Khadi artisans.
It further said that after KVIC served legal notice, Khadi Global discontinued hosting its website www.khadiglobalstore.com and removed its social media pages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and have sought 10-day time to remove all such contents and product using the brand name “Khadi”.
KVIC stated that its action has also resulted in shutting down a number of stores across the country that were selling “fake Khadi products”.
These e-commerce portals were selling products like Khadi masks, herbals soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, herbal mehandi, jackets, kurta and many such products through different sellers using the brand name “Khadi”. This created a false impression among online buyers that these commodities were genuine “Khadi” products, KVIC said.
KVIC also stated that a majority of the products that have been removed were being sold by one Ayush E-Traders. This firm has confirmed to KVIC that it has removed 140 links for various products that were being sold as “Vagad’s Khadi Products”, it said.
The commission further stated that there has been a steep rise in violation of Khadi trademark as the popularity of Khadi grew manifold in recent years after the prime minister’s appeal to buy Khadi products. Exploiting this opportunity, a number of online sellers began selling random products in the name of Khadi. Also, hundreds of stores mushroomed in different cities that were selling fake Khadi products, it said.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, there was a huge proliferation of such fraudulent online sellers. However, to enable online customers to buy genuine Khadi products, KVIC has launched its e-portal, selling a range of 300 products online at www.kviconline.gov.in/khadimask.
KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the KVIC has given violators the option of either stop selling products in the name of Khadi or legal action will be initiated for recovery of heavy damages. “Legal notices have been issued to various firms essentially to safeguard the interest of Khadi artisans. This trademark violation has a direct bearing on the livelihood of our artisans who are making genuine handcrafted products,” Saxena said in a release by the ministry.
KVIC said that it has put in place a robust online enforcement plan for effective monitoring of “Khadi India” trademark rights. It has employed a dedicated legal team, a mix of human and technological tools to ensure a systematic and continuous monitoring and takedown of unauthorised products being sold in the name of Khadi.
“KVIC is also educating all registered Khadi institutions engaged in manufacturing Khadi products that simply their registration with KVIC did not authorize them to re-authorize any one to use Khadi trademarks or Khadi India logo unless that firm or company obtains proper licence from KVIC for the same,” the commission said.
In August 2020, KVIC had issued legal notices to two firms Khadi Essentials and Khadi Global for unauthorizedly selling cosmetics and other products in the name of Khadi. The statement added that KVIC has also sought damages to the tune of Rs 500 crore from Fabindia which is pending before the Mumbai High Court.
