|
Last week I spent the most nervous
two-and-a-half hours of my life. I had just dropped my wife at the
airport for a flight to Chennai in a low cost carrier. Back at home
a big shocker flew into my face - my favourite newspaper reporting
about airline pilots flying around the country with licences issued
on the basis of fake certificates and reports of flying fright among
a few of them. Next week when I fly to Bangalore as a customer of
another Indian carrier I will at least be aware of the "Fly at your
own risk" unwritten statutory warning from the Director General of
Civil Aviation.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't fake any surprises when I hear or
read about fake currency notes, passports, visas or life-saving
drugs. Nor do I mind the actions of the suspicious man at the cash
counter of my favourite store, when he turns the Rs.500 currency
note upside down, holds it against the light or runs his fingers
over parts of the note. I have to thank my stars for having lost my
hair early so that my shiny scalp does not have to suffer fake aloe
vera shampoos.
Stories of fake encounters have got our soldiers real medals. Fake
visas and passports have come out of the realm of spy novels and
have recently led to radio tagging of Indian students duped by a
fake university in the US. Only a few days ago I was happy to get an
e-mail promising to get me a fake experience certificate in
software. All I was expected to do was to send my resume to get a
software experience embellishment to my otherwise uneventful
marketing career.
While I may be happy, as a consumer, at the prospect of buying a
fake Rolex watch at a fraction of its genuine cost in Swiss francs
on the streets of Shanghai, any mother would fret at the prospect of
her loved one being treated for a severe chest infection with a fake
drug. Worse still, how does a patient find out that his doctor is
not a quack who entered the profession with a fake medical degree?
Fakes or lookalikes are a big dent on companies' balance sheets. Try
asking the CEO of a pharma, FMCG or a branded garment maker what
their biggest worry is. They would all point to fake or spurious
products that are marketed by copying or slightly modifying the
names and logo designs on the packaging. Spurious products eat away
their market share, dilute their company's brand equity and bring
disrepute to the entire industry.
I have personally been conned into buying an Arrow or a Louis
Philippe with an extra 'R' or one less 'P' in the logo at an upscale
Gurgaon shopping centre.
Ask a banker what they wish away the most. Chances are that they
would refer to fake currency notes and fake cheques. The estimates
on the quantum of fakes vary from 20 to 30 percent of pharma
products in the rural areas, five to seven percent currency notes in
every 1,000 to about two to three percent in the branded garment
industry.
While the government is proposing steps to curb counterfeiting by
adding safety features like holograms, bar codes and so on, industry
body FICCI has sought rapid action from enforcement agencies and
stringent punishment for culprits. The Pharmaceuticals Director
General has set up a helpline to check the authenticity of the
medicines. The ministries of home and finance too are keen to clamp
down on fake currency entering from across the border. Fake currency
brings down the cost of creating crossborder terror for the enemy,
making the fake currency menace the biggest potential killer.
The steps proposed by the currency department include introduction
of safety features in raw materials used for making the currency
(security thread, foil/stripe, fibre and taggants), software and
processes (advanced watermark, software based note authentication
system) and machinery (micro perforation).
India does not have the right infrastructure to undertake turnkey
printing of secure currency. Ironically, there is no single Indian
or global vendor who can produce 'fake-proof' currency notes in
India - not even the India Security Press at Nashik.
The current system of procuring various components from global
security printers and allied material suppliers or even large- scale
printing abroad is not seen as a foolproof method to check
counterfeiting, especially when they could also supply materials to
security printers in neighbouring countries.
Setting up a secure currency printing zone that permits global
manufacturers of inputs to set up operations in India could work.
This complex could have captive companies that turn pulp into paper
with all the security features and continue to add security features
as it moves through the printing process.
After all, printing 18 billion currency notes added each year in
India is not a small number that can keep terrorism under check in
addition to bringing a smile on the face of customers of fake
just-about-anything.
(Sanjiv Kataria,
a strategic communications and public relations counsel, he can be
reached at sanjiv.kataria@gmail. Com)
|
Comments
|
Quick links