India Loses Bid To Bar Pakistan From Using Basmati Rice Tag

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India lost a bid seeking exclusive certification trademark rights for basmati rice in New Zealand.

The New Zealand High Court dismissed India’s bid to secure exclusive rights over the Basmati Geographical Indication (GI) tag . The court cited the Basmati’s status as a shared heritage product of both India and Pakistan in the eyes of international regulators.

The court ruling echoes similar decisions in Australia and Kenya that knocked back India’s bid to prohibit Pakistani rice producers from using the Basmati rice tag. 

Basmati Rice was officially granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2016. 

India Cannot ClaiM Exclusive Basmati Rice GI Tag

India had lodged an application through the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), an arm of the Government’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The APEDA sought a certification trademark recognising “Basmati” as a GI exclusive to Indian-grown rice. 

On October 30, 2025, the New Zealand High Court upheld an earlier decision by the country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ), ruling that India could not unilaterally claim GI rights over Basmati rice.

The court pointed out that the Basmati growing area encompasses large regions of both India and Pakistan, and granting protection solely to India would unfairly restrict Pakistani producers from accessing the New Zealand market

On October 30, 2025, the New Zealand High Court upheld an earlier decision by the country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ), that the term "Basmati" is descriptive of a rice variety grown in both India and Pakistan, and India cannot exclude Pakistani producers from using the name in New Zealand. 

Australia, Kenya Reject India's Basmati Claims

The decision is seen as a blow to India’s broader ambitions to monopolise the lucrative Basmati brand globally and keep out its rival Pakistan.

The NZ ruling mirrors outcomes in Australia and Kenya in recent years, reinforcing the notion that Basmati is a shared regional product, not India’s alone.

In 2022, the Australian authorities rejected India’s GI tag application on the grounds that Basmati is grown not only in India but also in Pakistan. Australia’s decision, like that of New Zealand, was grounded in intellectual property law, which does not favour the exclusion of Pakistan from Basmati’s provenance. India has since filed an appeal in the Federal Court of Australia, seeking to overturn this ruling. 

In Kenya, a 2025 Court of Appeal judgment reaffirmed that foreign GIs like “Basmati” cannot be enforced unless registered locally. The court said that APEDA, India’s export authority, lacked grounds to prevent others from registering or using the Basmati name in Kenya.