This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
TOTAL LICENSING

By Charles M. Riotto,
President
International Licensing
Much attention has been focused in the marketplace. LIMA is planning companies can fully own entertain-
Industry Merchandisers’
on China during the past decade to initiate some plans to address this ment networks in India; however for-
Association (LIMA)
for its booming economy and its which I will discuss later in this article. eign ownership is limited to 26 percent
www.licensing.org
potential as a lucrative licensing Another obstacle to launching a licens- of television news channels.
market, but there’s another coun- ing business in India is the enforcement The telecommunications sector is an-
try that deserves to be noticed of intellectual property rights and the other potential bright spot for licen-
for its equally fast pace and large- proliferation of counterfeit goods. sors. According to the Federation of
ly untapped potential: India. As an increasing number of foreign Indian Chambers of Commerce and
With a population of over one billion brands make plans to enter the market, Industry (FICCI), the total number
people, India’s economy, Asia’s fourth the irony is that in many cases, their of telephones registered in the coun-
largest, has registered an average counterfeits are already there. The try has been growing at an extremely
growth rate of more than seven per- government recently estimated that it fast pace. During the month of August
cent since 1994 and is forecast to grow was losing approximately US$187 mil- 2006, the number of mobile phone
9.2 percent in the fiscal year ending in lion annually in various taxes because registrations grew phenomenally by
March 2007. The Indian government of counterfeiting in the fast moving 5.9 million. By the end of that month,
recently announced that it intends to consumer goods industry alone. For- the number of registered telephones,
increase spending on health and educa- tunately, important changes in IP laws breaking all past records, reached 164
tion to help raise living standards for have been made recently, enhance- million – many of them with enhanced
hundreds of millions. Indeed, indicators ments have been made in the punish- capabilities for downloading videos,
show no signs of this economic trend ment and fine for counterfeiters, and photos and music.
slowing down any time soon. both civil and criminal remedies exist As noted earlier, LIMA is taking a lead-
Licensors of international brands for combating counterfeiting. ing role in helping our members real-
and characters are rightfully looking On the positive side, India features a ize the great licensing potential of this
at India as a market with incredible growing affluent middle class - largely emerging market. On March 29-30,
sales potential. However, as history English-speaking - with an increasing LIMA conducted a fact-finding delega-
has shown with most emerging mar- appetite for high quality consumer tion to India, in conjunction with the
kets, operating in India is not without products with prominent brand names. Global Convention on the Business of
its obstacles and challenges. For one, The middle class population has been Entertainment organized by FICCI.
India’s retail landscape has a weak in- estimated at 270 million, many of them This trade delegation provided partici-
frastructure and is largely fragmented familiar with Western brands and char- pants with the opportunity to attend
and disconnected. Currently estimated acters. The sheer size and economic informative presentations that will al-
to be worth about US$300 billion, the demographics of this market makes low them to understand the economic,
retail sector is made up primarily of it a prime target for property owners trade, social and business issues exist-
family-owned shops and small local seeking international expansion. ing in India. Speakers included promi-
chains, making broad-based national There are also several other signs that nent Indian retailers, broadcasters,
distribution a genuine problem. For- bode well for licensors. For example, agents, distributors, manufacturers and
eign multibrand retailers in India are television ownership is growing fast government officials. Delegates will be
currently restricted to cash-and-carry and there is still plenty of room to ex- able to use this knowledge to apply
and franchise operations, among them pand. About 105 million homes now to their macro global licensing busi-
Metro of Germany and Marks & Spen- have televisions, up from 88 million just ness plans which will enable them to
cer of Britain. However, as you might six years ago. The current number is start moving forward in launching a
expect, this market’s vast potential about the same as in the United States, successful licensing program in India.
has attracted the attention of global but it amounts to only about half of We further anticipate that this trade
retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and India’s households, as compared to 98 delegation will have created business
Carrefour which could eventually lead percent in the U.S. Up until the mid- opportunities for Indian brand owners
to a dramatic change in the country’s 1990’s the Indian government had tight who are looking to build awareness
retail environment. One of India’s larg- control over broadcasting in the coun- internationally, and for Indian manufac-
est companies, Bharti Retail, recently try. However, in 1995, India’s highest turers and animators who are looking
announced that it would spend US$2.5 court declared the government’s mo- for potential licensing partners from
billion by 2015 to build supermarkets nopoly over broadcasting unconstitu- America and Europe.
and hypermarkets in India. tional, creating a new era in Indian tele-
Secondly, the concept of licensing is still vision viewing. Today, about 60 percent For more information on LIMA’s activities
not greatly understood in India and it of the nation’s television households in India, together with their many other
is difficult (but not impossible) to find subscribe to cable or satellite services programs and activities, please visit us at
knowledgeable and reliable partners that carry private channels. Foreign www.licensing.org.
110
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126
Produced with Yudu - www.yudu.com. Publish online for free with YUDU Freedom - www.yudufreedom.com.