How many Geographical Indications are registered in India?

A number of GIs are registered in India for varied products. But what type of products hold the most GIs? Which state has the maximum number of registered GIs?

[orc]

From Kashmir Pashmina to Kerala’s Aranmula Kannadi, Mizo Chilli to Makrana Marble of Rajasthan, there are hundreds of unique products registered in India holding the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Not only are these products are the origin’s claim to fame, they also attract consumers from different parts of the globe because of their distinctive features. In an earlier story, we explained what GIs are, their significance and the relevant rules in India. This story attempts to analyse the different GIs registered in India across various regions and categories.

A total of 361 products have been registered in India’s GI Registry

The Geographical Indications Registry has a total of 361 GIs registered in India as of September 2019. The registration of GIs began in the financial year 2004-05 after the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 came into effect from September 2003. The first applicant for the status was West Bengal for Darjeeling Tea. Darjeeling Tea has received the GI status for both the product name as well as the logo. The latest additions to the list are Srivilliputtur Palkova which is a sweet made of milk from Tamil Nadu and Kaji Nemu, a variant of lemon from Assam. As of 10 May 2019, the GI Registry had received a total of 646 applications since the beginning.

Maximum number of GIs were registered in the year 2008-09

The data on registration of GIs in India is maintained for each financial year. In the first financial year 2004-05, when the registrations began, only Darjeeling Tea, Aranmula mirror and Pochampalli Ikkat were registered. The greatest number of entries to the registry was witnessed in 2008-09 with 45 products securing the GI tag. Between April 2016 and March 2017, 33 products have received the GI tag. In the year 2019-20, as of September 2019, 18 products have been registered under GI. The following chart shows the number of products that received the GI tag in India every year.

Products from foreign countries have also been registered in India

There are 15 products in the register, out of the total 361, whose origin is another country. These products are registered in India to ensure recognition and protection of their rights. These products are mainly wines and spirits. A total of 9 countries- UK, USA, Ireland, France, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, Peru and Portugal have registered products in India. The number of GIs from each of these countries and the list of products is given in the table below.

Karnataka with 45, has the largest number of GI tags in India

GIs from just a single state have been registered from almost all the states in India except Haryana, Jharkhand and Punjab. If the origin of a GI is from multiple states, these have been recorded as India for the purpose of this analysis. There are 11 products which have been marked as India. A few examples are Monsooned Malabar Arabica Coffee and Monsooned Malabar Robusta Coffee from Kerala and Karnataka, Warli Painting along the Western states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra and Nager Haveli and Daman & Diu and Phulkari handicraft from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Karnataka has the largest number of registered GI tags. 42 products have been registered from Karnataka in addition to 4 products registered from multiple states where Karnataka is one of the states. Following Karnataka is Tamil Nadu with 35 products and Maharashtra with 30 products. While Haryana and Punjab have products registered along with other states, Jharkhand has no GIs registered under its name either singly or with other states. The chart below shows the number of GIs from each state and union territories in India as of September 2019.

209 GIs registered in India are handicrafts followed by 109 agricultural products

GI registry has classified the products into four categories- agricultural, manufactured, handicraft, natural and food stuff. The category wise analysis of the registered GIs shows that 209 of them are handicrafts and 109 are agricultural products. These two categories along amount to 58% and 30% of all the GIs registered respectively in India till date.  The remaining 12% constitutes 24 manufactured products, 17 food stuff and 2 natural products. The two natural products are Makrana Marble of Rajasthan and Chunar Balua Patthar from Uttar Pradesh.

The Common GI logo

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in June 2019 released a notification stating the guidelines of the common GI logo and tagline on all GIs of India. The logo consists of a ‘G’ and ‘I’ bearing the three colours of the Indian flag. The tagline in English is ‘Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India’ along with the same in Hindi.

The usage of this logo helps consumers across the globe to identify the authentic GI products of India. It also helps in promotion and marketing of Indian products. Foreign GI products are not permitted to use this logo.