IndiaMART & 4 Indian Markets Land Into Notorious Markets List Again

B2B ecommerce platform IndiaMART and four physical markets in India have landed into the Notorious Markets List of the US. 

The “2022 Notorious Markets List” was released by the US Trade Representative (USTR) featuring 39 online and 33 global physical markets that are engaged in trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.

Heera Panna in Mumbai, Kidderpore in Kolkata, Sadar Patrappa Road Market in Bengaluru, and Tank Road in Delhi are the four other Indian markets that are featured in the list.

The inclusion to the Notorious Markets list is similar to smearing the reputation of companies. Although, it does not label penalties to the firms. 

“The widespread trade in counterfeit and pirated goods harms the economic security of American workers and undermines our work to craft equitable and inclusive trade policy,” said Katherine Tai, ambassador of USTR. 

Notably, this is not the first time when IndiaMART got featured in the Notorious Markets List. Earlier, the B2B marketplace along with four physical markets in India were too included in the 2021 edition of the list.

However there are some improvements when it comes to positive steps taken by IndiaMART. USTR report says, a right holder informed that the ecommerce marketplace turned cooperative in customer engagement, and is developing complaint response times. Nonetheless, counterfeit products including pharmaceuticals, electronics and clothing, among others remain a serious concern for other right holders. 

For the uninitiated, a right holder is a legal entity or an individual that holds exclusive rights to a protected copyright, trademark or patent.

The right holders further shared that IndiaMART aptly engaged with them and adopted anti-counterfeiting practices including seller verification, levying penalties against sellers selling fake products and actively monitoring for infringing goods. 

Set up in 1996 by Brijesh Agrawal and Dinesh Agarwal, IndiaMART is a listed B2B marketplace that connects buyers with suppliers. It recorded 250 Mn traffic and a cumulative business enquiries of 119 Mn in the third quarter of FY23. 

At the time of reporting, its shares were trading at INR 4,643.50 as on 1 February, 10.11 AM.

During Q3 FY23, it posted 61% year-on-year (Y0Y) growth in its net profit to INR 113 Cr against INR 70 Cr recorded in the corresponding quarter last year. Its operating revenue soared by 34% to INR 251 Cr in Q3 FY23 as compared to INR 188 Cr recorded in the same quarter last year.

In April 2022, it infused nearly INR 7.5 Cr in logistics startup Truckhall (SuperProcure) to procedure compulsorily convertible debentures via its wholly-owned subsidiary Tradezeal Online.

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