KVIC forces Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal to remove fake khadi products
New Delhi: Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on Saturday said its firmness has forced e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and others to remove over 160 web links selling products in the brand name of 'Khadi'.
The development comes in wake of KVIC serving legal notices to over 1,000 firms using the brand name 'Khadi India' to sell their products and thus causing damage to its reputation and the loss of work to artisans, it said.
"After KVIC served legal notice, Khadi Global has also discontinued using its website www.khadiglobalstore.com and also removed its social media pages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and have sought 10 days time to remove all such contents and product using the brand name," it said in a statement. KVIC action has also resulted in shutting down a number of stores across the country that were selling fake Khadi products, it claimed.
"KVIC firmness has forced e-commerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and others to remove over 160 web links selling products in the brand name of Khadi," it said. These e-commerce portals were selling products like Khadi masks, herbal soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, herbal mehandi, jackets, kurta and many such products through different sellers using this brand name.
"This created a false impression among online buyers that these commodities were genuine Khadi products," it said.
KVIC also stated that a majority of the products that have been removed were being sold by one Ayush E-Traders. This firm has confirmed to KVIC that it has removed 140 links for various products that were being sold as 'Vagad's Khadi Products'.
Further it said that there has been a steep rise in violation of Khadi trademark as the popularity of Khadi grew manifold in the recent years after the Prime Minister's appeal to buy these products.
"Exploiting this opportunity, a number of online sellers began selling random products in the name of Khadi. Also hundreds of stores mushroomed in different cities that were selling fake products," it said.
