Breaking News: Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) approves GI tag for Indian Basmati rice

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has directed the Assistant Registrar of Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai, to proceed with registration of Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice as per the geographical demarcation conducted by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda). This means seven north-Indian basmati rice producing states such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir will get the GI tag.

Basmati rice has been one of the fastest growing export items from India in recent years. Apeda, as a statutory authority of the Government of India related to exports of agricultural products, applied for the GI tag for Basmati, a special long-grain aromatic rice grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent. Historically, Basmati rice was a product of the undivided India with a recorded history of over 200 years.

The IPAB has also dismissed an appeal filed by the Basmati Growers Association, Lahore,Pakistan against the order passed by the Assistant Registrar of GI Registry on the procedural grounds.

PTI