Commerce min identifies 80 items for GI list

The commerce ministry has identified over 80 items including handicraft items, varieties of coffee, pepper and cardamom for registeration as Geographical Indicators. The ministry is also mulling domestic registeration of basmati rice as a GI.

Following consultations involving Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce, with commodity boards, it was decided that the Coffee Board would register Monsooned Malabar variety that is exclusive to Malabar region from Kozhikode to Mangalore, an official release said.

Similarly, the Spices Board has identified around 61 varieties, out of which Malabar Pepper and Tellichery Pepper are in the process of getting registered. The board would also take steps to register Alleppey Green Cardamom and Coorg Cardamom in the next 3 months.

The minister was also informed during the meeting that around 21 items of handicrafts from around the country have been identified by Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design (NID) that would be taken up for GI registration.

While Darjeeling and Kangra tea have already been registered as GI, the consultation process is on for Nilgiris and Assam tea.

On the issue of Basmati rice, the meeting noted that India and Pakistan are in dialogue for jointly filing the GI application before the US and European agencies. At the same time, domestic GI registration by APEDA will also be considered, the release said. The minister asked APEDA to identify mango varieties such as Alphonso that could be taken up for GI registration.

The advantage of GI registration is that the products would be certified for their origin which would result in elimination of imitations. Also a proper inspection mechanism during the registration process would ensure quality.

All these region specific products would be registered with the Geographical Indications (GI) Registry, Chennai.