Protecting the brand

If the phrase Made in India is being consistently debased,one would like to think that Indias government would swing into action as quickly as concerned citizens do when some public figure does not,in their opinion,treat Indias flag with sufficient respect. But apparently that wont happen unless the countrys trans-Himalayan rivals are involved judging by the commerce ministrys reaction to news from Nigeria that some spurious medicines impounded there were labelled as being from India but were actually made in China. Tragedy was averted: had the shipment not been impounded,some 642,000 people would have been given ineffective anti-malarial medicine. In response,the ministry said a massive rebranding exercise will have to be conducted. The timings particularly embarrassing,coming during an effort to promote Indian pharma in Africa,which includes junkets by senior commerce ministry bureaucrats to meet health ministers across Africa.

That shoddy stuff made in China is being passed off as made in India is deeply worrying. One-third of medicine in Africa is fake; Nigeria suffers particularly,so much so that their most acclaimed startup lets consumers check,by SMS,the authenticity of foreign drugs. Indias brand in Africa is at stake: the government must,of course,press every diplomatic button possible to get China notoriously slow-moving when it comes to issues of adulteration to act. But it is deeply ironic as well; for much of the resistance towards a properly streamlined transnational anti-counterfeiting regime emerges from8230; Indias commerce ministry.

The apparent reason for the stonewalling of anti-counterfeiting action is that the definition of counterfeit drugs includes those that are knowingly mislabelled as to source and content. Contents fine,the ministry says,but source could be misused to seize generic drugs. But the fear of misuse needs to be countered through greater transparency,not through bowing to pressure from a strange alliance of anti-patent crusaders and dubious generic producers. And,of course,the human cost of this might be enormous. So,as the commerce ministry gets on its high horse to attack the lackadaisical Chinese about permitting drugs knowingly mislabelled as to source pass,it is difficult not to think that its own actions are winding up helping them undermine Indias reputation.