New Delhi: Five Indian markets, including India's popular e-commerce website Indiamart.com and New Delhi's famous Palika Bazar, have figured in the latest annual list of the world's notorious markets released by the US Trade Representative (USTR).
The list, released Thursday for the year 2021, includes 42 online and 35 traditional markets around the world that are involved in trademark counterfeiting or copyright theft.
The three other Indian markets included in the list are Heera Panna in Mumbai, Kidderpore in Kolkata and Tank Road in Delhi.
"The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods undermines American innovation and creativity and harms American workers," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.
"This illicit trade also increases the vulnerability of workers involved in the manufacturing of counterfeit goods to exploitative labour practices, and the counterfeit goods can pose significant risks to the health and safety of consumers and workers around the world," she added.
According to the report, IndiaMart describes itself as the world's second largest online Business-to-Business market. Counterfeit goods can allegedly be found in large volumes on IndiaMART, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, electronics and apparel.
The report further went on saying that Right holders are concerned with IndiaMart's failure to adequately implement anti-counterfeiting best practices, including seller verification, penalties against known sellers of counterfeit goods, or proactive monitoring of infringing goods.
Commenting on the Heera Panna, located in the heart of Mumbai, the report said it offers counterfeit watches, footwear, accessories, and cosmetics. According to the report, Right holders warn that counterfeit cosmetics sold at this market have health and safety risks.
Interestingly, a raid in September 2021 resulted in arrests for selling counterfeit versions of premium watches.
Coming to Kidderpore, which is a fancy market, the report asserted that it sells counterfeit apparel and cosmetics, often in wholesale quantities.
''Severe skin problems, rashes, irritation, and eye diseases have reportedly been caused due to the poor quality of the counterfeits,'' the report added.
Palika Bazaar too featured in the notorious market list (NML) in 2021. Palika Bazaar is underground market in Delhi is seemingly well-known for the trade of counterfeit products, such as mobile accessories, cosmetics, watches and eyewear.
Notably, here the customers are mainly young students who need trendy products at cheap prices.
Like other, markets, the Delhi's Wholesale Tank Road market continues to sell counterfeit products, including apparel, footwear, watches, handbags, electronics, and beauty products.
The Right holders noted that conducting any raid here would be difficult as the market is located in a residential area and sellers often appear to have advanced knowledge of raids, limiting their effectiveness.
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