The association has already rolled out a five-year strategy from 2022-2027, to become a global industry voice in the authentication and traceability ecosystem. The association has announced the next chapter of its pioneering programme, Traceability and Authentication Forum scheduled for 6-7 July 2023 at Hotel Hyatt Regency, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi. 

The underbelly of counterfeiting and illicit trade is a huge threat to the economy, deeply rooted over the years and with an unfortunate push due to the pandemic plus its lingering effect counterfeiting is increasingly causing damage across all sectors. 

Counterfeiting constitutes almost 25-30% of the products (State of Counterfeiting in India 2022). It is found to be most prevalent in key sectors such as pharmaceutical, agriproducts, apparel, automotive, FMCG, consumer durables, among others. 

ASPA believes that an effective change can be brought about only by implementing a strategic plan which include advanced research and development, promoting the adoption of solutions, increased awareness of authentication and traceability solutions (ATS), developing tools to measure the impact of counterfeiting and its scale, encouraging the adoption of professional ethics and best practices within the association and enhancing the global reach and footprint of ASPA. 

Nakul Pasricha, president, Authentication Solution Providers' Association (ASPA), said, "We are proud of the progress our nation has made and to truly accelerate this progress for the future, we need to address the problem of counterfeiting and illicit trade. In the post-pandemic transformed India, it is impossible to visualise the product ecosystem without the growing use of anti-counterfeiting, authentication and traceability solutions. Governments and businesses will have to work together towards fighting counterfeiting to ensure the overall well-being of citizens, to protect consumers from getting cheated, to protect products and to protect businesses. The return on investment on authentication solutions is significant, and we are confident that India will see a sharp rise in adoption of these technologies and solutions."