NPIA president Shanker Prasad Pandey said an agreement has been made between the government and the association and within this week the agreement paper will be forwarded.
Of the allocated budget of Rs 12.4 million, the government will initially provide Rs 25 lakh in two installments as reimbursement for expenses incurred in NPIA’s trademark registration process.
“The process is quite expensive.
Earlier, we had no financial support from the government but now we have received a budget allocation from it,” said Pandey adding that according to the agreement, the government will cover 70 per cent of the expenses while 30 per cent will be provided by the private sector.
Till date, NPIA has spent around Rs 7 lakh in the trademark registration process. “It was really hard to get the money. We have to pay heavily in the trade registration process, advocates’ charges, and brand registration,” said Pandey adding that to complete the initiation NPIA needs at least a budget of Rs 12.4 million from the government.
The association has started its brand registration in the Norway and Switzerland of the EU along with Australia, Korea, Japan, United States, Canada, and Russia.
NPIA has succeeded in its registration in Norway and has got confirmation from Australia. NPIA will apply to 14 more countries among which the application for brand registration has already been forwarded to 11.
According to Pandey, by next fiscal year-end the pashmina brand will be registered in 26 countries aside from the EU. NPIA has launched its brand registra tion programme to check the fake products being exported in the name of Nepali pashmina and guarantee the quality of the products. Nepali pashmina does not cover major markets.
Therefore, even an export of Rs 10 billion is big business in the international market. Pandey said, “We are working in coordination with an Australian company ‘Mitrata Foundation’ for the brand registration.” Due to the lack of its own brand, low quality products are selling in the name of Nepali pashmina but which are made of viscous polyester, wool, cotton and other textile materials. More than 50 per cent of the local market has been taken by fake pashmina, said Pandey.
NPIA will soon start a campaign in the local market using hoardings at major tourist spots to inform about the quality of real pashmina. According to 10months’ export data of FHAN, the total contribution of Pashmina to total export was 25 per cent with a total Pashmina export of Rs 598,871,247.
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