Darjeeling Tea can only be called Darjeeling Tea if it’s actually grown in Darjeeling. That protection has a name: a Geographical Indication, or GI tag. It’s a form of intellectual property, distinct from a patent or a trademark, built around where a product comes from.
MCQ QuestionsIndian Economy
GI Tags in India
From one law to 822 protected products, headed toward a 10,000-tag target
1999
GI Act Passed
Parliament passes the Geographical Indications of Goods Act.
15 Sept 2003
Act in Force
The GI Registry opens in Chennai, under DPIIT.
2004-05
Darjeeling Tea
India’s first-ever registered GI tag.
2025-2026
822 Tags and Counting
125 new tags in one year; government targets 10,000 by 2030.
📅 Timeline
1999 — GI Act Passed
- 1999 Parliament passes the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
15 September 2003 — Act in Force
- 2003 The Act comes into force. The GI Registry opens in Chennai, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
2004-05 — Darjeeling Tea
- 2004-05 Darjeeling Tea becomes India’s first-ever registered GI tag.
2009 — Banarasi Sarees and Tirupathi Laddu
- 2009 Banaras Brocades and Sarees and the Tirupathi Laddu (temple prasadam) both receive GI status in 2009. This is a favourite UPSC comparison point — see Previous Year Questions below.
April 2025-March 2026 — 822 Tags
- 2025-26 India registers 125 new GI tags in a single year, taking the national total to 822.
✊ Must Know
What a GI Tag Protects
- Definition A Geographical Indication (GI) tag marks a product whose quality, reputation, or character comes essentially from its place of origin.
The Governing Law
- Law India’s GI system runs under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, in force since 15 September 2003.
Why the Act Exists: the WTO Link
- WTO/TRIPS India enacted the GI Act, 1999 to meet its obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO). GIs are one of the intellectual-property categories covered by the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), which every WTO member must implement.
Who Administers It
- Registry The GI Registry, based in Chennai, administers registrations. It sits under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The First GI Tag
- First Darjeeling Tea was India’s first GI tag, registered in 2004-05.
Validity and Renewal
- Validity A GI registration is valid for 10 years. It can be renewed for further 10-year periods indefinitely.
💡 Good to Know
822 GI Tags and Counting
- Data India registered 822 GI tags as of the 2025-26 registration year, after adding 125 new ones between April 2025 and March 2026.
Uttar Pradesh Leads
- Data Uttar Pradesh holds the most GI tags among Indian states, with more than 75.
Authorised Users Have Grown Sharply
- Data The number of authorised GI users has grown sharply, from 365 to about 29,000 over the past decade.
ODOP and the 2030 Target
- Policy The government’s One District One Product (ODOP) initiative and a new GI Atlas support wider registration. The stated target is 10,000 GI tags by 2030.
Which Food Items Actually Carry GI Status
- PYQ-relevant Not every well-known regional food has a GI tag. Banaras Brocades and Sarees (2009) and the Tirupathi Laddu (2009) both carry GI status. Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma does not — a distinction UPSC has directly tested (2015).
Individual GI-Tagged Handicrafts
- Cross-link Many individual GI-tagged handicrafts have their own dedicated coverage on this site. See Banarasi Saree, Kanjeevaram Saree, Bidriware, Blue Pottery of Jaipur, Channapatna Toys, Kashmiri Papier-Mache, Dhokra Art, Bandhani, Kalamkari, Meenakari, Zardozi, Bengal Terracotta, Kondapalli Toys, and Nirmal Painting.
Test Yourself
🏆 Great to Know
GI vs. Patent vs. Trademark
- Concept A GI tag differs from a patent or a trademark in a basic way. It protects a collective regional reputation, not a single inventor or company. Any producer within the defined region, meeting the defined standard, can use the tag.
Real Economic Weight
- Impact A GI tag can carry real economic weight. It supports premium pricing and export branding, since buyers can trust that a Darjeeling Tea label actually means Darjeeling-grown tea.
A Growth vs. Trust Trade-off
- Analysis India’s push toward 10,000 GI tags by 2030 raises its own trade-off. Faster registration is good for regional producers, but a GI’s value depends on buyers trusting the label — a trust that weakens if registration outpaces genuine quality control.
GIs Under TRIPS
- Framework GIs sit alongside patents and trademarks as recognised intellectual property under both India’s own law and international frameworks, including the TRIPS Agreement.
Mango Varieties: a Worked Example
- Example Mango varieties give a concrete illustration of the mechanism. Alphonso (Hapus) is GI-tagged to Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Raigad districts. Malihabadi Dashehari is tagged to Malihabad, Uttar Pradesh. Banganapalle is tagged to Andhra Pradesh, and Gir Kesar to Gujarat’s Girnar foothills.
More GI-Tagged Mangoes
- Example Several more mango varieties carry their own GI tags too: Appemidi (Karnataka), Himsagar and Fazli (West Bengal), Jardalu (Bihar), and Kuttiattoor (Kerala). Only fruit actually grown in each named region can legally carry that variety’s name. See CA0015 — GI-Tagged Mango Varieties of India for the full list.
Handicraft GI Tags
- Example Handicraft GI tags follow the same regional-protection pattern. Kashmir’s Pashmina shawls and Lucknow’s Chikankari embroidery each carry their own GI tag, alongside painting traditions like Warli and Pattachitra. For the handloom sector specifically, see IndEco0120 — Handloom in India.
📰 Current Affairs
GI & Beyond 2.0 Summit (5 Aug 2026)
- Policy On 5 August 2026, the Ministry of Textiles held the “GI & Beyond 2.0 Summit” in New Delhi, showcasing 100+ GI-registered handloom and handicraft products and launching the Digital Handloom Atlas. Full coverage: IndEco0112 — Textile Industry in India.
ODOP’s National Reach (24 Jul 2026)
- Data On 24 July 2026, the government detailed One District One Product (ODOP)’s reach. It has identified 1,244 unique products, across 773 districts nationwide. (Source: PIB)
ODOP Storefront on GeM
- Data A dedicated ODOP Storefront runs on the Government e-Marketplace, listing over 500 product categories, and 1,300 products. More than 10 states also run their own dedicated e-commerce platforms for ODOP. (Source: PIB)
PMFME Support for Food-Processing ODOP Units
- Policy The PMFME Scheme supports food-processing ODOP units with a 35% capital subsidy, up to ₹10 lakh. A separate 50% grant covers branding, packaging, and food-safety compliance. (Source: PIB)
Export Clusters for ODOP
- Policy For exports, 24 ODOP clusters have been identified with APEDA, and 7 fish and marine clusters with MPEDA. Under a separate “Districts as Export Hubs” push, 734 districts now have identified export-potential products. (Source: PIB)
ODOP Goes International
- First Internationally, 3 dedicated retail stores — 2 in Singapore, 1 in Kuwait — sell ODOP products. They’ve also been used as official gifts, at bilateral and multilateral meetings. (Source: PIB)
Muga Silk Trail in Assam (Jun 2026)
- Policy In June 2026, the government announced a Muga Silk Trail in Assam, along with a Silk Tourism Park and Muga Utsav festivals. This positions Assam as a premier destination for silk heritage tourism. (Source: PIB)
New GI Export Markets via APEDA
- Data Through 2026, APEDA opened new export markets for GI-tagged agricultural products. Karnataka GI fruits reached the Maldives, at 40-50% higher returns for farmers. Salem Sago reached Canada; Joha Rice reached the UK and Italy; and Tezpur Litchi reached Dubai, at about 10% higher prices for growers. (Source: PIB)
India-Oman CEPA: Indi Lime Exports (Dec 2025)
- Data Following the India-Oman CEPA, 3 metric tonnes of Indi Lime from Karnataka were exported to Oman in December 2025. (Source: PIB)
New Zealand to Recognise Indian GIs
- Policy New Zealand has committed to enabling registration of Indian GI products, a privilege currently held only by the European Union. This would extend formal GI protection to products like Darjeeling Tea, Basmati Rice, and region-specific handicrafts in the New Zealand market. Talks on a dedicated GI agreement also continue as part of the wider India-EU FTA negotiations. (Source: PIB)
Muzaffarnagar Jaggery Reaches Bangladesh (2025)
- Data The Muzaffarnagar Jaggery GI tag helped the Brijnandan Agro Farmer Producer Company export jaggery to Bangladesh in 2025. The shipment totaled 30 metric tons and benefited the company’s 545 members. (Source: PIB)
2025 Fee Cuts Under the GI Rules
- Policy A 2025 amendment to the GI Rules cut application and processing fees by 80%, and cut the renewal fee from ₹3,000 to ₹500. (Source: PIB)
GI Tags by Category (Dec 2025)
- Data As of December 2025, India’s GI tags break down by category. Handicrafts lead with 445 products, plus 27 product logos. Agricultural products follow with 251, then food products with 66 and manufactured products with 64. Just 5 products carry a natural-products GI: Makrana Marble, Chunar Balua Patthar, Lac of Purulia, Panna Diamond, and Ambaji White Marble. (Source: PIB)
GI Tags by State (Dec 2025)
- Data By state, Uttar Pradesh leads with 81 GI-tagged products, as of December 2025. Tamil Nadu follows with 76, and Maharashtra with 55. (Source: PIB)
MSME Innovative Scheme’s IPR Support
- Policy Under the MSME Innovative Scheme’s IPR component, eligible applicants can get reimbursed for GI registration costs. This covers up to 100% of the cost, capped at ₹2 lakh per registered GI. (Source: PIB)
PM Ekta Malls and OSOP Booths
- Policy PM Ekta Malls, backed by a ₹5,000 crore allocation in FY 2023-24, sell ODOP and GI-tagged products across states. Separately, One Station One Product (OSOP) booths on the Indian Railways network give artisans and weavers direct market access.
Full PIB Backgrounder
- Source Read the full story: PIB Backgrounder — GI Tags: Scaling Traditional Wealth into Global Brands (4 August 2026).
📝 Previous Year Questions
UPSC CSP 2018 — GI Act, 1999 and WTO Obligations
- UPSC 2018 Asked as: “India enacted The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 in order to comply with the obligations to”, testing whether the Act was passed to meet ILO, IMF, UNCTAD, or WTO obligations. The correct answer is (d) WTO — specifically, the TRIPS Agreement. See UPSC CSP 2018 GS Paper I, Q26.
UPSC CSP 2015 — Which Items Carry GI Status
- UPSC 2015 Asked as: “Which of the following has/have been accorded ‘Geographical Indication’ status?”, testing Banaras Brocades and Sarees, Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma, and Tirupathi Laddu. The correct answer is (c) 1 and 3 only — Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma has never carried GI status. See UPSC CSP 2015 GS Paper I, Q99.
Beyond the answer
Browse all indian-economy topics →
📚 Keep reading
UPSC CSP 2025 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)UPSC CSP 2026 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)UPSC CSP 2015 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)GenSci0027 — ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)IndGeo0087 — Indian Railways❓ Practice this topic
Atal Innovation Mission is set up under theD0231 — Which statement about India's fisheries sector is correct?D0230 — Why is the Rann of Kutch important for non-farm primary activity?D0229 — Which pairing of a non-farm primary activity with its physiographic setting is correct?🎲 Take a Indian Economy Quiz
Leave a Reply