The Delhi High Court ordered the e-commerce website Amazon to remove the listings after Rooh Afza’s Indian producer, Hamdard National Foundation, filed a lawsuit alleging that Pakistan-produced Rooh Afza was being sold in India through Amazon, according to The Indian Express.
Indians have been drinking Rooh Afza, a well-known beverage, for more than a century. The fact that its imported version was being sold on Amazon without the manufacturer’s information was shocking to the court.
On Wednesday, Justice Prathiba M. Singh ordered Amazon to remove the “listings of infringing ‘Rooh Afza’ products” within 48 hours.
Rooh Afza was first introduced by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi more than a century ago. After the partition, Hakim’s elder son relocated to India while the younger son chose Pakistan.
Currently, Hamdard National Foundation has the rights to the beverage in India, while Hamdard Laboratories (Waqf) makes it in Pakistan.
Last year, the Hamdard National Foundation discovered that some merchants were also listing Rooh Afza, and several of them received notifications as a result.
Later, it was discovered that the Rooh Afza bottles being sold in India on Amazon were really made in Pakistan, which is against the law.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that domestic plants produced 9.72 million mobile devices in the first four months of 2022, contrasted to 0.86 million acquired internationally.
In April 2022, local manufacturing plants developed 2.56 million mobile devices, compared to 0.25 million imported from other countries.
According to Brecorder, 5.69 million 2G smartphones and 4.03 million 3G and 4G phones are among the 9.72 million mobile handsets developed or assembled locally. 53 per cent of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are 3G and 4G smartphones, while 47 per cent are 2G.
Despite the growth in local mobile phone production, Pakistan acquired $1.810 billion worth of cellphones in the first ten months of 2021-22, contrasted to $1.684 billion in the same period the previous year, a 7.43 per cent increase, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Total telecommunications imports into the country climbed by 14.05 per cent during the review period (July-April) 2021-22, rising from $2.116 billion in July-April 2020-21 to $2.413 billion in the same period last year.
According to PTA data, the local manufacturing tendency indicates a favourable response to the PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization regulatory system.
Airlink has established a state-of-the-art smartphone production facility in Lahore which was inaugurated by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Muhammad Hammad Azhar on March 20.
The event was attended by many renowned faces of the sector, including EDB Chairman Almas Hyder and other government officials.
The organization has been primarily in the distribution business for the past 10 years working with top smartphone brands like Samsung, iPhone, Huawei, Xiaomi, Alcatel, TCL, Tecno & iTel.
The company has been a strong proponent of investment in Pakistan and has established a factory with 100% owned equity and a production capacity of six million units per annum. The facility has eight production lines, two quality lines and four packaging lines.
It is expected to bring an enormous opportunity to provide employment to 1000+ skilled and non-skilled workers.
Airlink’s new venture is a state-of-the-art smartphone production facility in Lahore. It is the most advanced mobile phone production facility with a vision of contract manufacturing in the country by meeting all international standards of quality and production.
The company has already secured contracts with TECNO, itel and TCL with all regulatory approvals.
Addressing to this historic occasion, Airlink Communication Ltd CEO Muzzaffar Hayat Piracha expressed his gratitude over the inauguration of the production plant.
“I feel honored that Airlink was able to establish this state-of-the-art facility in these unprecedented times which also resonates with the Prime Minister’s vision to promote ‘Made in Pakistan’ products that will not only create employment opportunities for people of Pakistan but also reduce the import bill, thus lessening the burden on foreign exchange reserves.”
This initiative of the government and its governing authorities will help to focus on employment generation, import substitution and technology transfer. It will also connect Pakistan to the international supply chain and will create export potential.
Hammad Azhar, while speaking on the occasion, congratulated the Airlink team for their efforts and said that in consonance with the vision of the PM, Ministry of Industries and Production was committed to bring in investment-friendly policies while ensuring ease of doing business in the country.
Airlink is a pioneer in the distribution business with a 25% share in the handset market. It is one of the fastest-growing smartphone distributors in Pakistan and has been leading a dominant number of global brands on board. It has also been declared among the top taxpayers of the country and has been awarded ‘Top tax Payer Award’ three times in a row for it in the last four years.
