HoMAI re-emerges as ASPA, will fight counterfeiting

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Hologram Manufacturers Association of India (HoMAI), which was founded sixteen years ago on 1 December 1998 as the world’s second and Asia’s only Association representing holography, has now been re-launched this year with a broader mandate as Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA), a press note shared.

By helping check counterfeiting, ASPA says it helps protect consumers, unlock revenue realization for brand owners and governments, as well as ensure steady growth of its members and the industry in general.

ASPA President Manoj Kochar added, “According to Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the impact of the counterfeit and pirated goods on the global economy today stands at a staggering $1 trillion. Like terrorism, counterfeiting is becoming a sophisticated and global menace that can have a crippling impact in any part of the world irrespective of its country of origin. We must develop a unified global strategy with powerful industry linkages and knowledge sharing platforms in order to stop this illegal trade effectively. ASPA is a call to unite various authentication solution providers across the world to galvanize our forces and strengthen this shield univocally. ASPA re-aligns our objectives to more accurately represent the transformation of products and services offered by our member companies. Our broader scope also covers a wide array of authentication technologies that have evolved over the years.”

Counterfeiting today impacts various industries including pharmaceuticals, FMCG, finance, electronics, automobile parts, entertainment, apparel, software, manufacturing, tobacco, liquor and others. ASPA members, as shared in the announcement, already protect over 10,000 brands worldwide through the identification of genuine products and documents.

ASPA aims to comprehensively cover the broader interests of the entire authentication solutions industry worldwide, including, but not limited to, holograms, optically variable devices (OVD’s), taggants, security inks and substrates, watermarks, nanotechnologies, RFIDs, barcode/ QR code-based digital tracking and verification solutions, security and tamper-evident labels and any other brand protection and authentication solutions.

Anil Rajput, Senior Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, ITC Limited, and Chairman of FICCI Cascade (Committee against Smuggling & Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy), says, “I am glad to note the re-launch of ASPA, which will represent an even broader interests of the entire authentication solutions industry. Counterfeiting and smuggling plagues almost all industries and leads to loss of trust, money, lives and livelihoods. Proper authentication solutions are a must to help validate genuine products. On the technology vendor side, ASPA complements FICCI Cascade’s consumer and industry efforts in curbing counterfeits, by bringing together all types of authentication solutions on one platform."

Prof. (Dr.) N C Saha, Director of the Indian Institute of Packaging, an autonomous body under Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India said, “It is heartening to note that HOMAI is reinventing itself as ASPA to take a higher responsibility to fight against counterfeiting in packaging. The market has become highly competitive which, too, leads to the demand of innovations in the field of anti-counterfeiting to protect the consumer interest. As a result, it will be a great move to amalgamate multiple authentication technology providers under a single umbrella to offer strong brand protection.