US agency labels SP Road as ‘most notorious’; traders fume

Bengaluru: Traders from Sadar Patrappa (SP) Road are bristling over the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) listing their market among the most ‘notorious’ ones in the world.While it means that the USTR considers the SP Road market as one that engages in or facilitates trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy to the detriment of American workers, traders said the description of the area is unfair. The Bangalore Electronic Dealers Association (BEDA) said that it is consulting its legal team to draft a response to the USTR report. They said they will either protest or write to the central and state governments seeking justice.“We had a discussion on this today and no one agrees with the claims made by the USTR. In our experience. China has the largest market for counterfeit electronic items and those products are often bought by MNCs, then refurbished a bit to make them appear like their own brand to cheap out their own brand and sold in the markets as authentic pieces with some of the widest profit margins,” said Arjun Jain, secretary, BEDA.He said his association, having over 1500 members in the city, finds the claims misplaced and ‘fake’. “It is like the Hindenburg report that brought down Adani’s business for a bit,” he said.The ‘Notorious Markets List’ identifies 39 online markets and 33 physical markets as those engaging in counterfeiting or piracy. It said, “Sadar Patrappa (SP) Road Market is reported by right holders to be a ‘hot spot’ for a wide variety of counterfeit electronic products, attracting large numbers of both locals and tourists. The market was found to have a lot of brokers loitering around luring customers. Despite a raid on counterfeits in this market in early 2022, enforcement efforts by local authorities have been insufficient to encourage improvement in this Bengaluru market.”Rahul Goyal, a committee member of the Karnataka Hardware & Allied Merchants Association told TOI that the area did have a problem of a few hawkers who put up shops or stalls along the road that promise electronics repairs but do not deliver.“Most of the shops here are registered with ISO and MSME, under the Companies Act and so on. We are the backbone of the economy and such remarks will definitely affect our business as the USTR report gives a bad name to the entire market. Innumerous bolts, nuts and hardware parts go from SP Road into building the city’s metro, rail and infrastructure projects. During the pandemic, SP Road supplied countless oxygen cylinders, masks and medical equipment. But such remarks could bring down our reputation, despite being out of place,” Goyal said.BEDA vice president Lalith Dakaliya pointed out that his industry employs close to 20,000 people on SP Road. He alleged that the USTR is trying to bring down the economy of the country.“To call all of SP Road a ‘chor bazaar’ (thieves’ market) is a very negative thing. Did the government of India or Karnataka even give them any permission or authorisation to conduct such surveys? With what authority have they made this claim? Now, because of this report, the majority of traders have been reporting a loss in business for the past three days. There might be a few bad apples but the genuine traders are facing problems,” he stated.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.