DPIIT has released Draft Guidelines for the Use of Geographical Indications (GI) and the GI Logo and invited stakeholder comments. This update sets out what the draft contains, who it affects, and what steps to take before the comment window closes.
Who Does This Impact?
The draft guidelines affect every participant in the GI supply chain, from the producer who makes the good to the platform that lists it for sale. If your business handles, markets, packages, distributes, or retails GI goods at any stage, these guidelines apply to you.
- Producers and artisans: The core authorised users. Only those producing GI goods in the notified region, in conformity with the applicable product specification, may use the GI name and logo.
- Cooperatives, FPOs and producer groups: Organisations aggregating or marketing GI goods on behalf of members. Entitlement to use the GI logo depends on registration status and the goods handled.
- Packers and intermediaries: Entities packaging or preparing GI goods for market. The draft’s treatment of processed products and intermediary access is one of its most significant provisions for this category.
- Distributors and wholesalers: Businesses moving GI goods through the supply chain. Use of GI names and logos in commercial communications is subject to the prior approval requirement where the entity is not a registered authorised user.
- Retailers and online platforms: Physical and e-commerce retailers displaying or selling GI goods. Use of the GI logo in product listings and advertising requires prior DPIIT approval for non-authorised users.
- Exporters: Use of GI names and logos on export packaging, promotional material, and international documentation falls within the scope of the guidelines.
- Brand owners: Any brand using language that evokes a GI without authorisation, including translations, phonetic imitations, or qualifiers such as ‘inspired by’, falls within the no look-alikes prohibition.
Draft Highlights: Five Key Provisions
The draft introduces five substantive regulatory positions. Each sets a clear standard for how GI names and logos may be used across the supply chain.
1. Genuine GI Only
The GI name and logo may only be used by authorised users on compliant goods originating from the notified geographical region. Use on goods that do not actually qualify, regardless of how they are marketed or labelled, is prohibited.
2. No Look-Alikes
The draft bans use of expressions that evoke a GI without authorisation. This includes qualifiers such as ‘type’, ‘style’, ‘kind’, ‘method’, ‘as produced in’, or ‘inspired by’, as well as translations into other languages, phonetic imitations, misspellings, and any other device that calls the GI to mind without authorisation.
3. Processed Products
Where a GI ingredient is used in a processed product, the GI name may be mentioned to identify the ingredient in the product description. However, the GI Logo may not be placed on processed goods. The GI Logo is reserved for the original, unadulterated GI good from the notified region. This is operationally significant for food processors, packagers, and FMCG companies.
4. Standardised GI Logo
The GI logo must appear in its fixed official design, with clear placement and minimum size requirements. No modification to the design, colour, proportion, or layout is permitted. An optional GI registration number may be included alongside the logo. No brand may adapt or redesign the official logo for its own commercial presentation.
5. Non-Commercial References Permitted
Academic research, journalism, education, cultural programmes, and official government uses may reference GI names and logos without constituting commercial exploitation. No prior approval is required for these non-commercial uses, provided the GI name or logo is not used in a way that conveys commercial endorsement or product association.
Stakeholder Comments Are Now Open
This is the right moment to engage. If you are a GI producer group, artisan collective, state body, FPO, brand owner, processor, retailer, or platform, the comment window gives you a direct channel to shape how these guidelines are finalised.
A GI is not just intellectual property. It is a certification of origin, culture, skill, and geography. The guidelines that govern the GI logo determine who can carry that certification, and on what terms. That is worth engaging with.
1. Review how you currently use GI names and logos
Walk through every touchpoint where your business displays, references, or communicates GI names or the GI logo, across packaging, product listings, advertising, promotional material, and export documentation. Check each use against the five provisions in the draft. Identify any gaps between current practice and what the draft requires.
2. Identify which category you fall into
The draft treats producers, cooperatives, packers, retailers, and platforms differently. Understand your category clearly. If you operate in more than one position in the supply chain, assess each separately. Authorised users have a different set of rights and obligations from intermediaries or platforms that are not registered with the GI Registry.
3. Assess your processed product exposure
If your business uses a GI ingredient in a processed product, check what the draft permits and what it prohibits. You may name the ingredient. You may not place the GI Logo on the finished product. If your current packaging does the latter, that exposure needs to be planned for before the guidelines are finalised and binding.
4. Consider submitting structured feedback to DPIIT
If the draft raises questions or concerns specific to your business, sector, or community, this is the moment to put those on record. Submissions should clearly state your name, affiliation, the specific provision you are commenting on, and your suggested change or question. Send feedback to ipr4-dipp@nic.in and ak.gupta38@nic.in before the comment deadline
The draft guidelines arrive alongside a related but separate development: the GI (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Rules, 2025, which reduced the application fee for GI registration from Rs.5,000 to Rs.1,000 per class and the renewal fee from Rs.3,000 to Rs.500. Together, the fee reduction and the logo guidelines represent a coordinated effort to expand GI registrations and to standardise how the GI logo is displayed to consumers.
The policy intent is to make the GI logo a more visible and trusted mark of authentic origin, both in the domestic market and for export. Whether the specific design choices in the draft, particularly around intermediary access to the logo, best serve that intent is a question the comment process is designed to resolve.
Conclusion
The DPIIT draft GI guidelines are the most significant regulatory development in India’s GI framework since the launch of the common GI logo in 2018. They introduce binding standards for logo use, extend the prohibition on evocative imitation, draw a clear line between GI goods and processed products containing GI ingredients, and set out who in the supply chain can display the GI logo and on what terms.
The comment window is open now. For GI producer groups, artisan collectives, state bodies, FPOs, brand owners, and platforms, this is the moment to review current practices and, where relevant, to put structured feedback on record with DPIIT before the guidelines are finalised.
Governing Law
Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 | GI Rules, 2002 | GI (Amendment) Rules, 2025 | TRIPS Agreement, Articles 22-24 | DPIIT Draft Guidelines for Use of GI and GI Logo (November 2025)
