Colour codes for desi, foreign products? New rules to show country of origin

The government is mulling putting colour codes on products to separate desi and foreign-made. This development comes after the government asked sellers to specify country of origin on products sold on government e-marketplace. Moreover, online retailers such as Amazon and Flipkart might also require to specify the country of origin of products. These measures are part of the government's policy to influence customer preference as calls to boycott Chinese goods grow louder.

The colour codes the government is planning to implement would be on the same lines of green for vegetarian and red for non-vegetarian food items. The colour code for India is likely to be orange or saffron, as mentioned in a report in Times of India.

On Tuesday, the government made it mandatory for GeM sellers to specify the origin of products. The government said that the products would be removed from the platform if the seller fails to specify origin. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said, "GeM has taken this significant step to promote 'Make in India' and 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat'. GeM has also enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products. With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items."

The government had also enabled 'Make in India' filter for products on the platform.

Additionally, online platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart might also have to declare the origin of country of products on display after Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and small manufacturers under the banner of Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) had proposed the same. The industry bodies claim that around 70 per cent of items sold on Amazon and Flipkart are of Chinese origin and that local manufacturers do not benefit from the boom in the e-commerce sector. 

Also read: Now, 'country of origin' mandatory for products on govt's e-marketplace

Also read: 70% 'Made in China', eh? Centre to ask Flipkart, Amazon, others to disclose 'origin'