PHONEY PHONES: Shops in a Calcutta grey market that offer cheaper copies of high-priced cellphones. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The uber cool cellphones in the hands of college students and the “high-end ones” that everyone envies might not always be the real McCoy.

The city’s grey markets are flooded with cheaper copies of high-priced phones available in India and abroad, often at one-third the original price. A top-of-the-line Personal Digital Assistant phone or a middle-range camera-enabled one, you name it and it’s on offer.

“We stock a wide range of cellphones, including the latest ones. Each product carries a year’s warranty,” said a shopkeeper at Fancy Market, the biggest grey market in the city. “There has been a spurt in the sales over the past three years.” The shop stores a wide array of fakes, including Dopod (written Doopod) and Nokia (written Nokla).

The state has a large market for fake products, primarily because of its location. “The items are mostly smuggled from China and Taiwan. Calcutta not only has a port where the products are unloaded but also falls on the land route, via Nepal, through which they are brought in,” said Krishna Sharma, a Delhi-based lawyer.

“I cannot afford a genuine Nokia set that costs Rs 20,000. If a fake is available at one-third the price and lasts a year or two, why shouldn’t I buy it?” asked Pratijyoti Ghosh, a student.

The lure of lower prices and ignorance of intellectual property rights are the primary reasons for the grey market to thrive, feel experts. “The seller and the buyer are equally unaware that the trade violates the law,” pointed out Sharma.

“Raids are conducted when we receive a complaint but it is difficult to determine what is legal and illegal in a grey market,” said Javed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police (detective department).

Counterfeit phones, however, pose a number of problems, said Pankaj Mohindroo, the national president of Indian Cellular Association. “There is often excessive radiation from fake phones. Besides, the batteries may burst and the amplifier can be defective.”