IndiaMART, Heera Panna, Two Other Indian Markets Figure In US Notorious Markets List

B2B ecommerce platform IndiaMART and three other Indian physical markets have figured in the latest annual notorious market list of the US Trade Representatives.

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

The “2023 Notorious Markets List” features 17 online and 39 global physical markets that are engaged in trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.

IndiaMART is actively implementing positive measures, such as introducing a specialised online complaint form for intellectual property concerns and providing various additional channels for right holders to report counterfeit issues. The company is also working to minimise its response time for takedown requests and has rolled out a thorough multi-layer seller verification process, the report said.

The report further said that the large volume of counterfeit goods still available on IndiaMART, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and apparel. It indicates that additional actions to implement antic-counterfeiting best practices are needed.

“Right holders remain concerned about the lack of proactive monitoring for infringing goods and an absence of clear certifications by sellers, beyond acceptance of the terms of use, that they have a right to sell what they are selling either by license or by law,” it added.

“The trade in counterfeit and pirated goods harms workers, consumers, and small businesses, and ultimately hurts the U.S. economy,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai.

“This year’s Notorious Markets List is significant because it underscores the potential dangers of counterfeit goods and why robust enforcement to combat trade in these goods is important to growing our economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” Tai added.

Notably, this is not the first time when IndiaMART has been featured in the notorious markets list. Earlier, the B2B marketplace along with four physical markets in India were too included in the 2022 and 2021 editions of the list.

Set up in 1996 by Brijesh Agrawal and Dinesh Agarwal, IndiaMART is a listed B2B marketplace that connects buyers with suppliers.

B2B marketplace IndiaMART InterMESH reported a 27.4% decline in its consolidated net profit to INR 82 Cr in the December quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 112.8 Cr in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

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