UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND ENERGY

STUDIES
School of Business
Business Environment
Presentation

Topic- Whose Basmati is it?

Group Names-

Khushi Chaudhary (500124621)

Japman Arora (500123556)
Tanishka Singh (500125505)
Dhruv (500125571)
Shreyansh Teotia (500125893)
Utkarsh Kumar (500125896)
 Following the Agreement on Trade related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) in the World Trade Organizati on (WTO), most countries are committ ed to the
provision of certain minimum standards for the protecti on of intellectual property. Such
intellectual property rights (IPRs) raise crucial issues for the future development of

INTRODUCTION agriculture and are parti cularly important for a developing country like India. These
issues are being extensively debated in India and have contributed to the preparati on
of legislati on on IPRs with respect to plant variety protecti on, patents and geographical
indicati ons. Basmati Case was an eyeopener for India, in the sense that it brought into
spotlight an instance of gross exploitati on of developing county rights.

20XX WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 2

 FACTS
Originally from India and
Pakistan, Basmati became a
controversial ‘issue’ aft er RiceTec,
a Texas-based company, in 1997,
patented some types of rice they
developed as “American basmati ”.
RiceTec Inc, had been trying to
enter the internati onal Basmati
market with brands like “Kasmati ”
and “ Texmati ”. Ulti mately, the
company claimed to have
developed a new strain of aromati c
rice by interbreeding basmati with
another variety.
RiceTec Inc, was issued the Patent
number 5663484 on Basmati rice
lines and grains on September 2,
1997
Technology and Ecology, an Indian
The Indian government, aft er
putti ng together the evidence,
offi cially challenged the patent in
June 2000.
WHOSE BASMATI IS IT?
This was objected to by two
Indian nongovernmental
organizati ons (NGOs) — Centre
for Food Safety, an internati onal
NGO that campaigns against
biopiracy, and the Research
Foundati on for Science,
environmental NGO who fi led
legal peti ti ons in the United
States. The Centre for Scienti fi c
and Industrial Research also
objected to it.
3
 THE ISSUES
 Whether RiceTec is guilty of
 Whether the term ‘basmati ’
is a generic one to describe
aromati c rice, or does it
refer specifi cally to the long
aromati c rice grown in India
and Pakistan?
 Whether the strain
developed by RiceTec is a
novelty?
WHOSE BASMATI IS IT?
biopiracy?
 Whether US government’s
decision to grant a patent for
the prized Basmati rice
violates the International
Treaty on Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS)?
 Whether the basmati patent
should be revoked in the light
of protests from India?
4
 IMPORTANCE OF BASMATI IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN ECONOMY
CULTURE
Rice is an important
aspect of life in the
Southeast and other
parts of Asia. For
centuries, it has been the
cornerstone of their food
and culture. During this
period, farming
communiti es throughout
the region developed,
nurtured, and conserved
over a hundred thousand
disti nct varieti es of rice
to suit diff erent tastes
and needs.
FIRST TO MARKET WHAT’S REAL
It is for this reason that According to Dr Vandana
patenti ng of Basmati by Shiva, director of a Delhi-
RiceTec Inc. is perceived based research
as not only intellectual foundati on which
property and cultural monitors issues involving
theft , but it also directly patents and biopiracy,
threatens farm the main aim for
communiti es in obtaining the patent by
Southeast Asia. between RiceTec Inc. is to fool the
spurious Basmati and consumers in believing
real Basmati . there is no diff erence
WHOSE BASMATI IS THIS?
FARMER
MATTERS
Theft involved in the
Basmati patent is,
therefore, threefold: a
theft of collecti ve
intellectual and
biodiversity heritage on
Indian farmers, a theft
from Indian traders and
exporters whose markets
are being stolen by
RiceTec Inc., and fi nally a
decepti on of consumers
since RiceTec is using a
stolen name Basmati for
rice which are derived
from Indian rice but not
grown in India, and
hence are not the same 5
quality
 MONEY
MATTERS

Basmati rice has been one of the fastest growing export items from India in recent years. In the year to March 1997, India

exported more than half a million tonnes of Basmat i to the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Europe and the United States, a small part of its

total rice exports, but high in value. More substant ively, Indian farmers export $250 million in Basmati every year and U.S. is a

target market. RiceTec Inc. had att empted to se ll its long-grain rice in Europe under such brand names as ‘ Texmati ’ and

‘Kasmati ’ but not as Basmati .

6
WHOSE BASMATI IS IT?
 RiceTec has been forced to give
up the ti tle of its patent, it has
RICETAC CONFLICT been forced to give up 15 of its 20
CONCLUSION claims, including those with the
most far-reaching implicati ons
related to biopiracy. The surviving
claims now need to be challenged
as part of the larger movement
against patents on life and
patents on rice. The campaign
against patent on rice is now
being launched by the Research
Foundati on against patents held
by Monsanto and Novarti s,
including patents on “Golden
Rice”.

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 7

 WHOSE BASMATI IS IT?

INDIA V/S PAKISTAN

 WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

In 2008, both India and Pakistan discussed

fi ling a joint applicati on before the EU to
register Basmati as a GI, but this plan was
derailed following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist
att acks. Nevertheless, the Agricultural and
Processed Food Products Export Development
Authority (APEDA) of India fi led for domesti c
GI status of Basmati and the applicati on was
granted in 2016 under the Geographical
Indicati ons of Goods (Registrati on &
Protecti on) Act, 1999.

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 9

RICE GROWN
AREA

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 10

 VALUE LAKH TONNES
EXPORT VALUES
45.59

INDIA 6.67
FIRST GROWS
YEAR​ YEAR
RICE IN NORTH OF 2001-02 22-23
VINDHYAN HILLS IN
0.39
7000BCE AND IN
GANGA VALLEY
REGIONS
4.79
IN 4530 BC AND
5440 BC.
$ BILLION

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 11

 NEW STEP

India, in July 2018, had filed for PGI status

J U LY for Basmati before the EU’s Council on
2018 Quality Schemes for Agricultural and
Foodstuffs to claim exclusive rights over the
commodity in the EU.

In September 2020, the application was

SEP published in the Official Journal of the
2020 European Union after being subjected to
a preliminary examination using
appropriate methods in line with control
procedures.

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 12

WTO DECLARATION
Basmati is grown in various parts of India as a special
long grain aromatic rice. It is raised and produced in
a particular geographical region of the Indian
subcontinent, below the foothills of the Himalayas.
The area is a part in northern India, below the
foothills of the Himalayas forming a part of the Indo-
Gangetic Plains (IGP).

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 13

 THE ONLY
SOLUTION

The fi ght for Basmati will conti nue for about

a decade. Moreover, Basmati exports of
both the countries will be heavily disrupted
unti l the confl ict is resolved by an amicable
agreement. The only possible soluti on is for
the countries to submit a joint applicati on.
Joint ownership is a practi cal and mutually-
benefi cial opti on, since India and Pakistan
are the only two Basmati rice producers in
the world. Many commoditi es, such as the
“Maasvallei Limburg” (wine), have been
granted transacti onal GI status.

WHOSE BASAMTI IS IT? 14

 TOP BUYER OF BASMATI RICE

25.3 17.1 12.3

% % %
IRAN SAUDI ARABIA IRAQ

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 15

 INDIA RICE PRODUCTION

95.98 106.5 109.7​

Million
Metric
2010 2012 2016
Tones

112.76​ 124.37 130.84

2018 2021 2023

WHOSE BASMATI IS IT? 16

THANK YOU

PITCH DECK 17