Just moments before I formally started writing this story, news came out revealing that two agricultural products, namely Unjha cumin and fennel, from Gujarat have received GI tags. Today, India has GI tagged products abounding but before 2004, there wasn’t even a single one.
“Geographical Indication” is what the tag is, a certification given to products/goods corresponding to a specific geographic location/origin and thereby, preventing unauthorised use of the products’ name and protecting the ‘origin’ of products . If protection was the ambition, 2004 feels recent and its visibility, even more so.
What happened before 2004
The wide-scale concept of protecting goods legally, unlike the formal practice of ‘GI tagging’ we know now, dates back to the Paris Convention in 1883. It aimed to protect almost everything across countries — patents, designs, trade names, you name it. Geographical Indication was among the bunch. The 1883 intellectual property treaty used “indications of source” and “appellations of origin” to showcase the importance of protecting the conditions that give rise to a distinct regional product.
Tea garden workers pluck fresh tea leaves from a tea garden, at a tea estate in Darjeeling.
| Photo Credit:
ANI
India’s first ever GI tagged product was Darjeeling Tea in 2004.
When WTO came into existence in 1995, Geographical Indication moved out of being known among a limited circle of countries to become part of WTO’s formal framework making it a standard all around the world. This is where India comes in. As a member of the WTO, India had to comply. Moreover, India was facing intense issues. Healing properties of neem and turmeric, and basmati rice (things that we have known and used for centuries) were patented by Western companies and researchers, making it a legal challenge. Soon, India rolled out the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999 to protect goods from misuse and biopiracy. The infrastructure and administrative setup required for proper functioning took years to complete and the Act only came into effect in September, 2003.
Marayur jaggery, a GI tagged product from Idukki, Kerala.
| Photo Credit:
JOMON PAMPAVALLEY
Geographical Indications are a crucial part of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights under both WTO and Paris Convention.
What’s the process like?
Apply
To get a GI tag, application is required. A union of persons, organisation, or any authority who represents the interest of the producers of the goods can apply. At the end of June this year, a 220 year-old sweet from Chandannagar, West Bengal received a GI tag. The GI tag application for this sweet, called Jalbhara, made and produced by Surjya Kumar Modak and his son, was submitted in 2022. The tag took four years to materialise.
Scrutiny
On the other side of the table, the application undergoes a series of scrutiny by the Geographical Indications Registry.
Publication
The application will be published in the Geographical Indications Journal, where people can read and oppose.
Award
If there are no successful oppositions, only the final step remains. The registrar registers the product in the GI registry, thus awarding the certificate to the applicant and the product. Then the news comes out.
How does GI tag support the community?
The economic impact of GI tagging is gigantic and its impact on those artisans and producers who make them are direct. That’s why getting a GI tag is significant. Think of it like a unique identity that nobody can steal, puts the attention on you making you finally visible to the world, and showcases the laborious process and effort that you put into the work. It’s like Gucci or Prada branding in terms of social visibility and authenticity because we know when a Gucci bag is fake and when it isn’t. Though unlike such corporate branding, GI tags are regional, collective, and community-driven. It means that someone, say from Kerala, can’t mass-produce a product that resembles Dongria Kondh shawl and call it Dongria Kondh shawl because the shawl’s geographical location and production process is protected by GI. Thus Dongria Kondh shawl stays authentic and all its artisans continue to get work as the craft tradition does not fade.
Dongria Kondh shawl wrapped around the tribe members, Odisha.
| Photo Credit:
KR DEEPAK
It also boosts market growth for these products. Data shows that sales increased by 70%, income of the farmers and artisans increased by 20-75% after products got GI tagged.
It shows
Banaras Gulabi Meenakari: Artisans had a 20% rise in monthly incomes and nearly 50% higher product prices.
Earthen ovens ‘Haleem Bhatti, (brick and mud ovens used for preparing Haleem).
| Photo Credit:
NAGARA GOPAL
Hyderabad Haleem: There were similar sounding products with similar names outside of Hyderabad but since getting the GI tag, a market opened for the product and the makers could promote it, thus solidifying the unique identity.
Kashmiri Shawls: GI tagging brought back many significant numbers of women artisans who had to previously discontinue their work due to machines by-passing the handmade process.
Kashmiri girls doing embroidery work on shawls in Kashmir. (Circa September 1978).
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
War of Rasgulla
Today, you may know both Odisha Rasagola and Bengal Rasagulla. Once, both Odisha and West Bengal fought hard over claiming rasgulla as their own. The four-year long battle beginning from 2015 was famous in social media, got ministers involved, and eventually reached court.
Made from chhena (cottage cheese) both rasgullas are soft, white, and dripping in sweet syrup.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images/iStockphoto
It all started when Odisha decided to celebrate Rasagola Diwas in 2015 and made a move to get a GI tag for it. The sweet, made in Pahala, was also given as offerings at the Puri Jagannath Temple in Odisha. Bengal immediately contested with claims that it was made during the British colonial era and in fact, was the work of Kolkata-based confectioner Nobin Chandra Das. After 2 years of fighting, Bengal emerged as the winner in 2017. Odisha was determined not to give up. They compiled historical evidence and claimed how the rasagola they make is different from that of Bengal Rasagulla. Eventually, efforts weren’t in vain as they too received their GI tag in 2019.
Published – July 28, 2026 08:00 am IST
