If there is one name inseparable from the long-grained rice variety that?s unique to India, it?s basmati.

And if there is one patent battle that could have snowballed into a major diplomatic battle between India and the United States, it was Texas-based company RiceTec?s attempt to patent ?basmati rice lines and grains.?

The long-grain variety?famous for its mouth watering aroma and the long grain appeal that it lends to the full-bodied Mughlai cuisine ? may have taken aeons to finally come into its own, but finally it has happened. The unsung hero now has both name and packaging, thanks largely to the concerted branding efforts of a clutch of Indian players?Kohinoor, Dawat, India Gate and Maharani?to name a few.

The result? A marked change from early 1990s, when rice was sold simply as rice; measured with a tin cup into non-descript, brown, gunny bags, endorsed meekly, by celebrity couple Sharmila Tagore and Nawab Pataudi on Doordarshan. But that was a long, long time ago.

Today, the market is crowded with some 400-odd players fighting for the turf, engaged in a pitched battle for positioning their particular brands of basmati rice, differen- tiating each by such features as fragrance, flavour, price and size. Basmati has indeed come a long way. Both in the domestic and international export market.

A native variety to the whole of the Indo-Gangetic plain, stretching from Pakistan to India, basmati today commands a premium position. India produces close to 1.5 million tonne of it, accounting for over two-thirds of world?s total exports.

?We promote our rice as a brand not as a commodity,? explains Gurnam Arora, joint managing director of Kohinoor Foods, a Rs 650- crore company. The brand goes with the tag line, ?the taste of authenticity.?

Despite stiff competition posed by Pakistan, the huge popularity of the Indian variety can be gauged from our impressive export performance. The preliminary data released by the commerce ministry for the period running from April 2008 to January 2009 is an indication, our basmati exports crossed $1,495 million (Rs 7,500 crore approximately) last year. This was a quantum jump from the previous two years? (2007-08 and 2006-07) Rs 4,344 crore and Rs 2,792 crore respectively.

On the price front, as well, there is an improvement. Despite the slowdown, basmati price in the global market have begun to stabilise and even move northwards, over the past few weeks. According to industry sources, while a couple of months ago, the average global price was $900-950 per tonne, the current price is $1,200 per tonne and rising.

In volume terms, basmati exports have gone up from 7.71 lakh tonne in 2003 to 14 lakh tonne in 2008. Although the land for notified and non-notified basmati varieties has not grown appreciably (only by 2.8% in the recent years) India still manages to output some 1.5 million tonne per annum.

Unfortunately, and this is a major spanner in the path of the Indian basmati?a big chunk of our exports still gets sold under ?buyers brand?. ?This may change gradually with greater brand cons-ciousness, as there is huge scope for product promotion in domestic as well as overseas market,? concedes Rajeev Setia, executive director, Chaman Lal Setia Exports, the owner of Rs 170-crore Maharani brand of basmati rice.

Change is already underway. ?The Indian market is now moving from loose to packaged products and there is increased awareness of the various rice brands, thanks to mass media communication,? says Karan S Chanana, head of Amira Foods (India), another exporter of basmati rice.

At present, the Gulf region is the principal buyer of Indian basmati. Saudi Arabia, where rice constitutes a staple food is a big importer, importing around 6.25 lakh tonne, of which nearly 5.75 lakh tonne is from India. ?Iran is another major consumer of Indian basmati,? informs Arora of Kohinoor Foods, who is planning to enter his company?s name in the Guinness Book for World Records for the world?s ?biggest serving of biryani.? Kohinoor Foods has come out with a slew of other branded offerings such as ready-to-eat Indian curries, cook-in sauces, cooking pastes, spices, seasoning and frozen food, to go with the main rice dish.

Tilda, another name in the basmati business, has, meanwhile, been promoting its brand on a ?purity? plank. ?Tilda stands for purity,? explains R S Seshadri, director, Tilda Riceland, who claims to be one of the biggest rice exporters from the sub continent.

Lately, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce has also swung into action. APEDA has quietly and steadily been working at getting basmati registered under the Geographical Indications (GI) system. GI registration provides a distinct trading edge to exporters of an indigenous variety of food. If all goes to plan, the ministry officials are hopeful that the GI to the Indian basmati variety would be grated within a few months.

?Basmati is unique to us. It?s a part of our heritage,? asserts Asit Tripathy, chariman, APEDA.

Already, the authority has identified over 300 instances of infringement of intellectual property rights, as far as the name basmati is concerned, in 47 countries. The good news, however, is that nearly 76 of these cases have so far been settled in India?s favour.

GI branding for basmati

Similar to trade names or trade marks, a geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on food products that are unique to a geographical location. The GI system started in Europe where there has been a long-standing tradition of associating certain food products to particular regions. In 1994, when negotiations on the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Tights (TRIPS) were underway, over 150 countries agreed to set certain basic conditions for the protection of GIs in all member countries.

However, it?s only lately that India and Pakistan decided to launch a joint initiative at getting their basmati rice registered under the GI system as common heritage. This joint initiative met a road block last year when Pakistan went ahead solo and granted a trademark to a Lahore-based farmers? lobby by the name of Basmati Growers Association. India?s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) had offered to jointly register basmati under GI along with the Rice Exporters? Association of Pakistan, which was rejected by Pakistan government.

Officially, APEDA spends somewhere close to Rs 3-4 crore annually on such litigations. GI registration, it is hoped, would save this cost. This has already happened in the case of indigenous products like Darjeeling tea, Kancheepuram silk, Mysore agarbathi, Madurai songudi, Coimbatore wet grinder and Mysore sandalwood soap that have already won a GI registration.