<p>Shop owners on Bengaluru’s S P Road are shocked their market has been named on the US Notorious Markets List. </p><p>It was inducted into the list for allegedly selling counterfeit products and infringing copyright or trademark policies.</p>.<p>Bangalore Electronic Dealers Association (BEDA) plans to write to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which releases this global list annually. BEDA secretary Arun Jain, who owns an industrial electronics store on S P Road, told <em>Metrolife</em>, “We want to take legal advice and write to them. We want to know the factors they took into account to include us in the list. We would also like to ask them to stop poking their nose in the Indian economy.”</p>.<p>Arun said it is plausible that 1-2% of goods being traded here are unethical. “So how did they conclude that the entire market is notorious?” he asked.</p>.<p>Located near Majestic, the 1 km-stretch is chock-a-block with over 1,000 stores selling consumer and industrial electronic goods and hardware. People throng the road in search of products at wholesale or subsidised prices and for repair services. “We ship products throughout India. Our market makes a minimum turnover of Rs 14,000 crore a year,” added Arun.</p>.<p>Like Arun, other traders said the news has hit their reputation but they are confident it won’t impact business. A store owner, Rajendra Golchha, said it’s because he had built a loyal customer base over 30 years. He said he stocks ISO-certified and Crisil-verified computer products.</p>.<p>However, they opined touts have become a nuisance in the past 3-4 years. These hawkers lure passersby into buying sub-par phones and accessories and sometimes charge Rs 5,000 for a repair service worth Rs 350, they claimed. Arun said the beat police do slap a small fine after receiving complaints from shop owners, but it doesn’t deter touts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Origins</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to Prasanna Kumar, employed at a store since 1988, S P Road was earlier a settlement of migrants from Tamil Nadu. “After they moved away, 8-10 shops came up. They were selling hobby kits for polytechnic colleges and industrial components like motor pump starters, capacitors and diodes for public sector companies. After the IT revolution, computer hardware and accessory shops came up. Later came the demand for mobile phones, and now, CCTV cameras.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">What happened?</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last month, a US body named S P Road among 33 physical markets globally engaged in the sale of counterfeit products. Mumbai’s Heera Panna and New Delhi’s Tank Road are also listed</p>
<p>Shop owners on Bengaluru’s S P Road are shocked their market has been named on the US Notorious Markets List. </p><p>It was inducted into the list for allegedly selling counterfeit products and infringing copyright or trademark policies.</p>.<p>Bangalore Electronic Dealers Association (BEDA) plans to write to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which releases this global list annually. BEDA secretary Arun Jain, who owns an industrial electronics store on S P Road, told <em>Metrolife</em>, “We want to take legal advice and write to them. We want to know the factors they took into account to include us in the list. We would also like to ask them to stop poking their nose in the Indian economy.”</p>.<p>Arun said it is plausible that 1-2% of goods being traded here are unethical. “So how did they conclude that the entire market is notorious?” he asked.</p>.<p>Located near Majestic, the 1 km-stretch is chock-a-block with over 1,000 stores selling consumer and industrial electronic goods and hardware. People throng the road in search of products at wholesale or subsidised prices and for repair services. “We ship products throughout India. Our market makes a minimum turnover of Rs 14,000 crore a year,” added Arun.</p>.<p>Like Arun, other traders said the news has hit their reputation but they are confident it won’t impact business. A store owner, Rajendra Golchha, said it’s because he had built a loyal customer base over 30 years. He said he stocks ISO-certified and Crisil-verified computer products.</p>.<p>However, they opined touts have become a nuisance in the past 3-4 years. These hawkers lure passersby into buying sub-par phones and accessories and sometimes charge Rs 5,000 for a repair service worth Rs 350, they claimed. Arun said the beat police do slap a small fine after receiving complaints from shop owners, but it doesn’t deter touts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Origins</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to Prasanna Kumar, employed at a store since 1988, S P Road was earlier a settlement of migrants from Tamil Nadu. “After they moved away, 8-10 shops came up. They were selling hobby kits for polytechnic colleges and industrial components like motor pump starters, capacitors and diodes for public sector companies. After the IT revolution, computer hardware and accessory shops came up. Later came the demand for mobile phones, and now, CCTV cameras.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">What happened?</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last month, a US body named S P Road among 33 physical markets globally engaged in the sale of counterfeit products. Mumbai’s Heera Panna and New Delhi’s Tank Road are also listed</p>