In a major boost to the Indian carpet industry, the famed handmade carpet of Bhadohi has been granted Geographical Indication (GI). With this, it has joined the league of other GI tagged products like Pochampalli, Tirupati laddu, Darjeeling tea and Banarasi silk and brocade.
In the past four months, the Registrar of Geographical Indications (GI) has granted GI tag to Bikaneri bhujia from Rajasthan, Guntur Sannam chilli, Gadwal sarees & Hyderabadi haleem from Andhra Pradesh, Nashik valley wine, Mahabaleshwar strawberry and Paithani sarees from Maharashtra, Kasaragod sarees and Kuthampully sarees from Kerala, Kinnauri shawl from Himachal Pradesh, and Sandur Lambani embroidery from Karnataka.
The Bhadohi-Mirzapur is the biggest carpet manufacturing hub in India, engaging around 3.2 million people in the industry and exports carpets worth Rs 2,500 crore (approx) to other countries. The GI tag means that the carpets manufactured in nine districts of the region, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Sonebhadra, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jaunpur and Chandauli would be tagged with �handmade carpet of Bhadohi'.
According to the officials, the benefits of GI registration include prevention of unauthorised use of a registered GI by third parties, boost in export and economic prosperity of producers. Only an authorised user has the exclusive rights to use the GI tag for the goods.
GI tag will also allow carpets manufacturers and exporters from the region to take legal action against the infringement of the name of their unique product. No carpet produced in other regions or countries can now be sold in India under the tag of Bhadohi carpet.
Carpet exporters from the region believes that it would help in checking the migration of manufacturers and exporters to other states to establish their business, who use the name of this region for their products.
The granting of the GI tag will definitely benefit the carpet industry in the years to come and it is a major achievement for the carpet manufacturers and exporters in the Bhadohi region as this will also ensure increased visibility, demand and price for the handmade carpets from the region.
About GI
Geographical Indications of goods are defined as that aspect of industrial property which refer to the geographical indication referring to a country or to a place situated therein as being the country or place of origin of that product. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the fact of its origin in that defined geographical locality, region or country
Under Articles 1 (2) and 10 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, geographical indications are covered as an element of Intellectual Property Rights. They are also covered under Articles 22 to 24 of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which was part of the Agreements concluding the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations
India, as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 has come into force with effect from 15th September 2003
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