The AGM proceedings started with all the attended members paying tribute to its legends whom the industry lost during the last few months including, UK Gupta, former president, and founder of ASPA, Urvinder Singh, CEO, Alpha Lasertek, and Suresh Sati, founder, Fake Free India. The AGM proceedings were further followed by annual activity reports from the Secretariat and Treasurer, and later elections for the new governing body members.

This was the first time that the association election was held online to adhere to Covid-19 protocol. The election officer Ms Shruti Kaushik, IP Attorney (managing director, Patentwire) conducted the election process and declared the election results. The elections were held for a five-member committee and the new appointment for 2021-23 are as follows:

Nakul Pasricha, president & CEO, PharmaSecure (President)

Manoj Kochar, director, Holoflex (Vice-President)

Luv D Shriram, director, Shriram Veritech (General Secretary & Treasurer)

Ashish Chandra, country director, De La Rue India (Member)

Sanjay Kumbhat, partner, Kumbhat Holographics (Member)

The newly-elected governing body further co-opted two more members, Ankit Gupta, director, Holostik India, and Nityanand Shenoy, president & MD, PRS Permacel in the governing body.

Nakul Pasricha, president, ASPA, said, “ASPA has been instrumental in the development and growth of the authentication ecosystem in the country. I am honoured to be re-elected as the president of this distinguished association. I am gratified by the trust and faith all members have shown in me and the new governing body members. I assure them of working to deliver on core objectives of support, education, and advocacy in the development of standards and the promotion of authentication solutions. To amplify the efforts the new governing body will be preparing Vision 2023, to mark ASPA’s 25th anniversary in 2023. Vision 2023 will be dedicated to uplifting the ongoing efforts and preparing the blueprint for the future.”

He added. “We salute the leaders who have paved the initial way. Now it is our responsibility to make this fight smarter with increased use of digital technologies and more effective by working with various institutions. ASPA has continuously worked towards increasing the awareness quotient. Now is the time to see this translate into positive buying behaviour by empowering the consumers and other stakeholders. Our Vision 2023 will embody our strategy towards these targets.”

Manoj Kochar, vice-president, ASPA, added, “I have huge respect for ASPA and am thrilled to re-join it in a new role in the Governing Body. Since its inception, ASPA has made huge progress in creating momentum in the fight against fakes in India and we are committed to strengthening this momentum. We will speed up our awareness campaigns Make Sure India, Brand protection Awareness initiatives along with institutional awareness at India and global level with industry bodies including International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA), International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA), GS1, and other prominent intra-industry associations. We look forward to working with government departments, industry bodies, and institutions to develop more avenues to make India’s fight against counterfeiting more powerful.”