On testing the fake soaps at the KSDL laboratory, it was found they contained heavy metals that could have cancerous effects on the skin.
Published Jan 20, 2024 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 20, 2024 | 8:00 AM
Fake Mysore Sandal Soaps manufactured in Hyderabad. (Supplied)
The counterfeit Mysore Sandal Soap production facility, recently raided and shuttered by the Hyderabad police, had been clandestinely in operation for about a decade, employing 8 to 10 individuals, Karnataka Soaps and Detergent Limited (KSDL) officials told South First on Friday, 19 January.
During the raid, KSDL officials conducted inquiries within the neighborhood to unravel the soap manufacturing unit’s presence in the locality, discovering its existence over the past decade.
“The people who were running the unit, especially the arrested accused Rakesh Jain and Mahaveer Jain, could also manufacture fake Parachute coconut oil and even Nandini ghee as they were specialists in manufacturing fakes,” Prashanth PKM, Managing Director of KSDL, told South First.
Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge, at a press conference in Bengaluru on 17 January, had contended that Rakesh and Mahaveer Jain were active Telangana BJP leaders.
The spurious Mysore Sandal Soaps, which were manufactured at the unit, intentionally avoided mainstream retailers, wary of potential exposure to the original company’s representatives.
Instead, the rogue unit targeted smaller establishments situated in religious and pilgrimage locales, tourist spots, roadside dhabas, or shops near temples, where one-time soap usage was prevalent, especially during fairs, festivities, processions, and carnivals, as per KSDL officials.
While an authentic 175 gm Mysore Sandal Soap bar typically retailed at ₹42, providing a meager per-piece profit margin of ₹1-2 for retailers, the counterfeiters peddled their imitation at ₹20 per piece to shopkeepers, who would then sell the soaps for ₹42.
This would secure a hefty profit margin of ₹22 per bar of soap, a senior KSDL official stated.
“Similarly, a three-pack original Mysore Sandal Soap would cost ₹210 with a retailer, while the fake unit runners have been selling the three-packer for ₹150 to these shops in bulk,” the official told South First.
He added that KSDL would have incurred an estimated loss of somewhere between ₹500 crore and ₹600 crore over the years that the fake unit was in operation.
