The post below gives details about the statistics of Geographical Indications (GI) filed and registered in India in the past decade
India’s journey with Geographical Indications (GI) started almost 10 years back in 2003, when the GI Act and Rules came into force. In order to comply with India’s obligations under the TRIPS agreement, India enacted the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came into force with effect from September 15, 2003.
Since 2003, with the first application for registration of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ the filings has reflected an escalating trend. From September 2003 till 31st March 201, 479 GI Applications have been received at the Indian GI Registry. From its inception to till date, a total of 236 GI Applications have been given the GI status by the Indian GI Registry. Among which Peruvian Pisco from Peru, Champagne from France & Napa Valley from USA, Scotch Whisky from UK, Prosciutto di Parma from Italy, Porto & Douro from Portugal, Tequila from Mexico are some goods from other parts of the world to get registration from the Indian GI Registry
In the year 2004-2005 only 15 registrations were filed. The next year, the number of applications rose to 27. The numbers of applications has been increasing with the years. For the first time a GI ‘authorized user’ application, was filed in the year 2009-10 and 40 GI applications were filed in the same year. The year 2011-12 witnessed a huge hike in the number of applications filed for GI registration, i.e 148. However this reduced in the following year and only 24 applications were filed. In 2013, there were 75 applications filed from all over the country for GI registration.
The filing trend shows that the southern States in India have topped the charts in obtaining GI registrations as against the rest of the States. As of March 31st, 2013, the state of Karnataka is leading the way with 32 GI registrations followed by the state of Tamil Nadu with a total number of 24 registrations. Andhra Pradesh (22) and Kerala (20) are also not far behind, falling in the third and the fourth position respectively. These four states together account for over 50 % of the total GI registrations granted in India. The top goods under which the applications were filed were handicrafts, textile, agriculture, manufactured, food stuff, natural.
According to an interesting survey, India has over 3,000 potential GIs, which need to be protected.
Below is a table, which gives the details of the GI applications filed and registered in India in the last decade:
| YEAR | GI APPLICATIONS FILED | GI APPLICATIONS REGISTERED |
| 2004-05 | 15 | 11 |
| 2005-06 | 27 | 19 |
| 2006-07 | 38 | 3 |
| 2007-08 | 42 | 61 |
| 2008-09 | 44 | 45 |
| 2009-10 | 40 | 14 |
| 2010-11 | 27 | 29 |
| 2011-12 | 148 | 23 |
| 2012-13 | 24 | 21 |
| 2013-14 | 75 | 22 |
Read Dr. Kalyan’s note on The Case of Indian Intellectual Property
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