HP announces anti-counterfeiting program in India

Hewlett Packard, on Wednesday, announced the results from its Anti-Counterfeiting and Fraud (ACF) Program in India, to raise awareness on the scale and severity of the fraudulent printing supplies market in India. The program helps combat the production, distribution, and sale of counterfeit ink and toner printing supplies.

The ACF program has seized counterfeit products worth Rs 80 crore in India in the past year, with the Delhi-National Capital Region leading the country in seizures worth Rs 33.5 crores. Bangalore came a close second with seizure worth Rs 22 crores, followed by Mumbai and Chennai with Rs 6.5 and Rs 3.5 crores, respectively.

Law enforcement authorities conducted raids at over 170 premises resulting in 144 arrests across India. Among the products seized during the raids were finished and unfinished cartridges, packaging materials, and various sets of labels. These seized cartridges and labels were used to manufacture counterfeit HP print supplies.

Counterfeit products pose an immediate threat to businesses by the way for downtime and capital costs1. For example, the use of fake printing supplies can often result in printer damage and malfunctions, resulting in revenue loss and downtime for businesses since they are void of warranty.

Through the ACF program, HP aims to protect businesses from the problems that can result from counterfeit supplies. Some simple guidelines companies can follow to help ensure the purchase of Original HP Supplies with confidence are as follows:

Be wary of dubious sales methods such as bulk sales on online auction sites and dramatically reduced prices

Buy only from authorised sales partners to avoid falling victim to counterfeiting

Explicitly ask for Original HP products when purchasing or tendering