New Delhi, Mar 19 (IANS): The market for fakes in India has grown steadily and stands at a whopping over Rs 40,000 crore even as law enforcement remains weak, the Authentication Solutions Providers Association (ASPA) said on Sunday.

The statement comes at the end of the two-day International Leadership Summit on Anti-Counterfeiting and Brand Protection here organised by the association which was inaugurated by Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu.

"The market for fakes are on a constant rise in India, and has surpassed over Rs 40,000 crore in the organised sector alone, as law enforcement remains weak and fraudsters freely make inroads into the market," the ASPA statement said.

In his inaugural address, Prabhu reiterated the government's resolve to deal harshly with the rising menace of counterfeiting.

"We are going to make a very modern Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) era in India and that would lead to creating people investing into the brand and that will lead to a knowledge economy which in turn will make India a far better place and developed place," he said.

"To make Brand India a clearly acceptable brand we must first of all protect IPR because countries, companies, even Indian companies that are going to invest huge amount of money into brand building , creating new rights in form of patents, copyrights or new product development or molecule development all of them would need IPR protection.

"If Indian brands want to become global then they must also be able to respect global brands in India," he added.