
The Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA) is the world’s first and only self-regulated non-profit organization that represents the entire authentication solutions industry globally. On 28 April ASPA announced the extension of its industry and consumer-centric ‘Make Sure India’ campaign to Maharashtra, to educate and enable brand owners to understand the benefits and importance of authentication solutions to curb counterfeiting in various sectors, thus protecting the lives of consumers, reputation of brands and revenue of brand owners in the country. Today, its member companies are already protecting
more than 10,000 brands globally.
On this occasion Arun Agarwal, general secretary of ASPA said, “Product counterfeiting has become a menace, badly affecting Indian industries, the country, society and consumers at large. According to industry body FICCI, from the counterfeiting activity the Government of India incurred a loss of 26,190 crores in fiscal year 2011-12 which increased to 39,239 crores in 2013-14, a growth of 49.8% in two years.
To combat this problem as a non-profit association we brought world-class new generation effective authentic solutions which are empowering consumers, brand owners and government authorities to easily identify genuine goods and products. We are bridging the gap between brands and consumers by verifying and authenticating products to the consumer in real-time through mobile app, web application and SMS amongst others.
“We welcome the initiative of Government of India and the campaign ‘Make in India.’ However, there is a constant need to ensure that these ‘Made in India’ labelled products are genuine, safe and secure till they are delivered to the end consumer. The lack of awareness is making innocent people unknowingly buy fakes at the cost of original products. In one of the worst examples of causing harm, buying fake medicines or baby food can result in serious health issues or even loss of life,” said Agarwal.
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