Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: In order to additional strengthen and shield the word mark and brand ‘khadi’ globally, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the statutory body for the promotion of enterprises in khadi and village industries beneath the Ministry of MSME, has secured ‘khadi’ trademark registrations in 3 more nations – Bhutan, UAE, and Mexico. The trademarks have been secured in Mexico in December last year followed by UAE on June 28, and Bhutan on July 9. According to the MSME Ministry, applications for related trademarks have been pending in 40 other nations like the USA, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Japan, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, and so forth.
The total quantity of nations exactly where the Khadi trademark has been secured has gone up from six viz., Germany, the UK, Australia, Russia, China, and EU to nine now. According to the government, KVIC has got registrations in these nations in a variety of classes that pertain to Khadi fabric, Khadi readymade garments and village market items such as Khadi soaps, Khadi cosmetics, Khadi incense sticks, and more.
In current years, Khadi’s reputation has seen enormous development in India and abroad due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to adopt Khadi and it has turn into extremely vital for KVIC to shield the identity of Khadi and safeguard the interest of customers and lakhs of Khadi artisans who are manufacturing genuine Khadi items, mentioned KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.
KVIC noted situations of some private nearby entities in nations like Mexico and Germany searching for trademark registration for the brand name “Khadi”. KVIC had challenged the trademark application of “One Foundation Oaxaca Ac” in Mexico which had applied for the “Khadi” logo. Likewise, a nearby organization in Germany Best Natural Products GmbH had got prior rights in the mark “KHADI” and associated marks in the EU and other nations in unique classes in 2011.
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The commission had last year mentioned it forced e-commerce portals such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and other people to get rid of more than 160 internet hyperlinks promoting items employing the brand name of “Khadi”. This was in wake of KVIC serving legal notices to more than 1000 firms employing the brand name “Khadi India” to sell their items and therefore “causing damage to its reputation and the loss of work to Khadi artisans,” a statement had noted.
TheSpuzz Online had reported in May this year that Khadi sales had bounced back in FY21 with 3.6X development from the preceding year. According to the MSME Ministry dashboard information, 2,790 Khadi institutions involving 4.97 lakh artisans reported Rs 3,079.13 crore in sales, up from 2,687 Khadi institutions involving 4.96 lakh artisans reporting sales worth Rs 840.97 crore in FY20. “There were a lot of government orders that we had received last year. While during the pandemic there was no sale but we had launched the online sale that supported our growth. Moreover, after khadi outlets were allowed to open last year, aggressive marketing was undertaken and customers had also started accepting local products,” Saxena had told TheSpuzz Online.