The connection between the grain, Assam’s environment and its traditional cultivation ultimately led to Joha Rice of Assam receiving Geographical Indication protection, formally recognising the rice as an agricultural product whose reputation and distinctive qualities are associated with the state.
Recognising this relationship between the grain and its place of origin, Wayanad Jeerakasala Rice was registered as a Geographical Indication of Kerala, protecting the identity of one of the state’s most important indigenous aromatic rice varieties.
Kaipad Rice received Geographical Indication protection in 2014, recognising both the distinctive grain produced in these fields and the traditional agricultural ecosystem from which it originates. Its identity depends less upon a single rice cultivar than upon the relationship between salt-tolerant rice varieties, tidal water, monsoon rainfall, wetland soils and the traditional farming knowledge of North Kerala.
Navara received Geographical Indication protection as an agricultural product of Kerala, recognising the close relationship between the rice, its traditional cultivation environment and the knowledge preserved by Kerala’s farming communities. The official Geographical Indications Registry records Navara Rice under Application No. 17, filed in 2004 and registered in 2007. Its GI registration has since been renewed and is currently valid until 24 November 2034.
Within India, the protected Geographical Indication covers Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, specified areas of western Uttar Pradesh and three districts of Jammu and Kashmir. It is one of India’s most commercially important agricultural GIs and one of the country’s most internationally recognised food products.
The mango entered India’s protected geographical-indication system when Rewa Sunderja Mango received GI registration on 31 January 2023. The registration formally connected the celebrated cultivar with Madhya Pradesh and provided growers with a legal framework through which its geographical reputation could be protected and developed.
The fruit received formal Geographical Indication protection in September 2021, but the agricultural tradition behind it is much older. Kerala’s official GI documentation records thousands of trees across the Kuttiattoor landscape, while local history connects some surviving specimens with several centuries of cultivation. The GI therefore protects not merely a mango variety but a living orchard culture deeply associated with the people, soils and seasonal rhythms of North Malabar.
The mango’s regional identity received formal protection when Kari Ishad Mango was registered as a Geographical Indication on 31 March 2023. The official Intellectual Property India record identifies Matha Totagars Farmer Producer Company Limited of Ankola as the registered applicant, with the registration valid through 1 March 2032.
Known locally through names such as Manghilar, Mangilar, Mangilal and Manga Hilario, the variety is celebrated for its exceptional sweetness, aromatic flesh and remarkably smooth eating quality. ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute describes Hilario as one of Goa’s most popular indigenous mangoes after Mankurad, while APEDA identifies it as a distinctly Goan variety known for sweetness, cluster bearing and its unusually late maturity.
That difference is because Gulbarga Tur Dal is not being treated merely as another pulse moving through a commodity market. Its GI identity, aggregation through an FPO and access to an overseas buyer have together created a higher-value sales channel.
