Fabindia vs.

Khadi
What is Khadi?
Khadi means handspun and hand-woven cloth. In 1918 Mahatma Gandhi
started his movement for Khadi as relief programme for the poor masses
living in India's villages. Spinning and weaving was elevated to an ideology
for self-reliance and self-government. Every village shall plant and harvest its
own raw-materials for yarn, every woman and man shall engage in spinning
and every village shall weave whatever is needed for its own use. In the first
half of this century and in many parts even now, farmers have not enough
work to earn their living throughout the year. About four months they may be
idle due to the rainless dry season. Spinning would thereby supply the
readiest occupation; it can easily be learnt. It requires practically no outlay or
capital, even an improved spinning wheel can be easily and cheaply made.
Gandhi saw it as the end of dependency on foreign materials (symbolizing
foreign rule) and thus giving a first lesson or real independence. Raw
materials at that time were entirely exported to England and then re-imported
as costly finished cloth, depriving the local population of work and profits on
it. Gandhi also felt that in a county where manual labor was looked down
upon, it was an occupation to bring high and low, rich and poor together, to
show them the dignity of hand-labor. He asked not only of those in needs, but
of every person to do spinning at least about one hour per day as sacrifice to
his county, as duty towards the poor. He hoped for a certain bond of unity
between the classes and masses by bridging the gap with a common
occupation, and he saw great social value in hand-spinning. It was for
economic, cultural and social reasons and not merely political that Gandhi
established the Khadi Movement. In 1934-35 he expanded the idea from
helping the poor individual to self-reliance of whole villages. In 1942-43 he
had sessions with workers groups and village organizers to re-organize the
whole programme on a bigger country-wide scale. Thus Khadi is not mere a
piece of cloth but a way of life.
What is Fabindia?
A lesser known name – John Bissell is the proud founder of Fabindia – a
chain of retail stores selling garments, furnishings, fabrics and ethnic
products, which are handmade by craftspeople across rural India.
With over Rs.1500 Crores valuation, along with 90,000+ artisans and
craftspeople and roughly 200 stores across India and abroad, Fabindia today
is widely known to be and has successfully managed to boost rural
employment across villages in India.
Fabindia had started as just a one-man export company of home furnishings,
by John. His idea back in those days was to provide the world with the
beautiful crafts from India.
During his early years, John went on to travel across India, more specifically,
craft-based villages and towns, to meet and find weavers and entrepreneurs,
who could produce flat weaves, pale colours and precise weights in
handloom yardage. After searching for a long time, he finally narrowed down
to his perfect match and got A. S. Khera, a dhurrie and home furnishing
manufacturer in Panipat, as their supplier.
In 1964, John happened to meet the British designer Terence Conran, who
had recently established a Home Furnishing Retail Company called Habitat.
One thing led to another and soon, Habitat became one of their biggest
customers. While at it, John also went on to establish a distribution network
in the United States, supplying their products to mom-and-pop stores.
And by 1965 the company was clocking a turnover of more than Rs. 20
lakhs, and had also moved from his house, into a proper office.
Khadi vs. Fabindia
In India, Khadi is being promoted by Khadi and Village Industries
Commission, under the patronage of the Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘KVIC’) is a unique statutory body formed by
the Government of India, under the Khadi and Village Industries Act, 1956.
The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Act states that, the organization
is constituted to ‘plan, promote, facilitate, organise and assist in the
establishment and development of Khadi and village industries in the rural
areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development
wherever necessary’.
Recently(May, 2018), KVIC filed a case against Fabindia at the Bombay
High Court claiming INR 525 crore in damages for the unauthorized use of
the ‘Khadi’ mark. The Khadi mark is registered as a trademark (bearing
Registration Number 2851551) in India by KVIC and the Commission has
also sought a Geographical Registration Protection (bearing Registration
Number 492) over the same.
This is not the first instance of misuse of the Khadi mark by a commercial
entity. As the table below lists down, there is a growing trend world over of
entities applying for registration of the trademark ‘Khadi’.
For instance, in Germany, a foreign company, BNP Best Natural Products
GmbH, was granted a trademark over Khadi, thereby allowing the use of
Khadi by the German company without paying any compensation to the
community of Khadi weavers in India. The ongoing legal battle over Khadi
involving Fabindia also led to a recent meeting by the Indian government that
plans to promote Khadi as an Indian brand abroad to prevent further
misappropriation of the Khadi mark.
The use of the Khadi mark (without the authorization of the KVIC) by
commercial entities amounts to an infringement of KVIC’s trademark and a
loss of licensing fee payable to KVIC for the use of the Khadi mark.
KVIC’s dispute with Fabindia goes back to 2015 when it first asked Fabindia
to stop making unauthorized use of the Khadi mark. Despite giving
assurances to KVIC that it would not use the Khadi mark, Fabindia continued
using the Khadi mark without taking a license from KVIC (the trademark
owner of Khadi). KVIC sent a legal notice to Fabindia in February 2017 and
finally filed a case at the Bombay HC to resolve the matter. Under the Khadi
Mark Regulations, 2013 (issued by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises), only those entities/individuals which sell genuine Khadi can use
the Khadi mark tag/label.
Finally, on August 28, 2018, news broke out, that Fabindia has informed the
Bombay High Court that it will not use the term “Khadi” in their current or
future products. The Counsel representing Fabindia informed the court that
the company is currently not using the word “Khadi” for its products, and
even if they want to use it in the future, they will give four weeks’ advance
notice to KVIC. Hon’ble Justice S.J.Kathawala, who was hearing the case,
had accepted the undertaking of the company.
 Thank you
Name- Subham Dasmohapatra
Roll- 104
BBA 3rd Year

Bunny will give me tommy t-shirt on august 1st week.