China's criminal enterprise of counterfeit products hit Indian, world economy

New Delhi: China has mastered the art of copying and it has now become part of its culture. Contrary to the Indian value system, China rather takes pride in this criminal enterprise of counterfeit products. Forbes magazine has surveyed that counterfeit goods worth over Rs 127 lakh crore are sold annually across the world and it is more than the economy of Canada, Russia, South Korea, and Australia. 

Surprisingly, 80 percent of these counterfeit goods sold globally are made in China, which sells 60 to 80 percent of these products merely in countries like America, thereby, weakening the economy of those nations from where it actually copies the products.

The DNA analysis delves deep into China's criminal enterprise of counterfeit products to unearth the facts. China has evolved itself to produce a copy of any product from coffee to cars. 

By the year 1985, the total number of cars in China stood at 5200 as the majority of Chinese people did not possess a car. They were not allowed to own a private car, according to the Communist culture of China, but now the number of vehicles in China is more than 270 million. This number is more than the number of cars present in Europe. 

Now, several top auto companies manufacture their vehicles in China, which allegedly copies the designs of these companies and to produce an exact replica of these vehicles and sold them in the market. You will also be surprised to see some examples of this:

The Maruti 800 used to be India's most famous car until a few decades ago. This was called India's first Family Car. Today, this car is not produced in India but its replica or duplicate model is still very famous in China. In China, the Maruti 800 is known as Jiang-Nan TT, which resembles Maruti 800 with an 800cc engine besides flaunting all other features.

The famous Toyota car Innova, which comes with a starting price tag of Rs 25 lakh in India, a replica of this car, sold in China under the name Linmax, is available for just Rs 7.5 lakh.

Similarly, Jaguar Land Rover's famous car Range Rover Evoque has been replicated in China and is sold as Land Wind X7. The price of the original car is around Rs 55 lakh while Chinese vehicle is available for merely Rs 15 lakh. Notably, Jaguar Land Rover is owned by Tata Motors of India.

Another big car manufacturer Audi's famous model Audi R8 is being produced in China as CH Lithia. The original Audi R8 costs around Rs 1.25 billion, while in China this car is available for a much lower price.

One of the most expensive and luxurious vehicles in the world is Rolls Royce Phantom, which is available at a starting price of Rs 9 crore in India, but the Chinese replica is sold under the name of Geely GE, which costs merely Rs 32 lakh.

In China, you can roam around in a fake luxury car, wearing fake clothes as well as shoes of expensive brands. Not only this, but you can also shop for fake branded products and drink even fake coffee.

The production of these counterfeit goods in China, however, has hurt the world economy. For example, the US alone suffers an annual economic loss of Rs 14 lakh crore. 

Even canned food items in India have also become a victim of Chinese products. It is believed that 22 percent of this industry is dominated by counterfeit products from China, affecting several big Indian brands. According to a FICCI report, this has caused an annual loss of Rs 6000 crores to Indian firms. 

China has earned profit by making these fake products but has hit the economies of other countries. The question arises as to how China has done this. It has adopted three methods:

1. Firstly, it has surreptitiously entered into the supply chain of original goods and stolen the real goods to sell them illegally at cheap prices.

2. Secondly, it creates a replica of original goods as most of the world's products are made in China itself. Already aware of the designs of these products, China, therefore, takes advantage and fits fake parts and launches counterfeit goods in the market.

3. The Third way is to create a copy of big international brands. The names of these products are also similar to the original so that customers fail to understand the difference between the fake and the real. For example, on the pattern of famous Coffee Chain Star Bucks, a coffee chain called SunBucks is famous in China.

Copying in China is neither considered a moral offence nor the laws there try to stop this practice.