India will lay down norms to tackle the challenge of counterfeit products, which are sold in the names of well-known garment brands by introducing QR Codes.

Representatives of the Indian clothing sector met Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh and discussed checking the sale of fake or counterfeit brands of clothing.

The Indian apparel industry also has expressed its readiness to share data on counterfeit products to aid better policymaking by the government.

The government is planning guidelines to incorporate QR codes on branded apparel to enable the identification of fakes by users, sources told CNBC-TV18.

A joint report issued by the Authentication Solution Providers Association (ASPA) and CRISIL in January 2024 pointed out that 25-30 percent of all products sold in India were spurious.

The garments and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors were termed as having the most counterfeited products.

The report claimed that 31 percent of apparels were counterfeits, followed by 28 percent in FMCG products, 25 percent in automotive and 20 percent in pharmaceuticals.

The report covered 12 Indian cities like Ahmedabad, Agra, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Patna.

The report also mentioned that 31 percent of consumers willingly bought counterfeit products, while 27 percent of consumers were not unaware when buying these fake products.

Indian Apparel.