Aditya Birla Group’s Madura Fashion & Lifestyle has apologised to the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) for using the trade name ‘Khadi’ without permission to promote its apparel under the brand name ‘Peter England’, saying it has removed the word from all the promotional materials.

“We apologise for our ignorance with regard to the requirement to obtain Khadi mark registration in accordance with the procedures prescribed under Khadi Mark Regulations, 2013,” the company said.

Acknowledging the national importance attached to Khadi mark and the Khadi products, Madura said, “Post receipt of your (KVIC) notice, we have taken immediate steps in our organisation required to initiate the process of registration of Khadi mark by us.”

The company said that it has stopped production of any more merchandise under ‘Khadi’ name and debranded its merchandise that were under production.

“We have scrapped all plans relating to advertisement of Khadi collection and accordingly we have removed mention of ‘Khadi’ in all our promotion materials, both in print and digital media and have removed all the collaterals mentioning ‘Khadi’ from our exclusive branded outlets,” the company said in a letter to KVIC.

“We have stopped production of any more merchandise under the name ‘Khadi’,” it said.

The KVIC had asked the company to stop the use of trade mark ‘Khadi’, and had sought its response within 15 days of receipt of the notice.

The notice was triggered by an advertisement of the company in newspapers last month to promote its apparels under the brand name ‘Peter England’.