At a time when the Indian breeding industry is facing a severe cash crunch due to sluggish sales of youngstock – courtesy the slowing Indian economy, accompanied by fear related to the swords hanging over racing in a couple of major cities – along comes the RWITC Ltd. to compound breeders' woes!

In an ill-timed move, the Keeper of the Indian Stud Book has sent out a letter (on RWITC Ltd.'s letterhead) to breeders informing them of swingeing increases in the fees to be charged for registration of breeding stock, with effect from December 1st. Fees for imported stock are to be doubled. The same 100% increase was sought for Indian-bred stock as well, but intensive lobbying on the part of the National Horse Breeding Society of India appears to have persuaded the more rational elements in the RWITC Ltd.'s management to restrict this hike to 50%. 

The letter referred to can be accessed from this link. The Keeper has spent the first three paragraphs in a vain attempt to buttress his case. A closer examination will reveal that these paragraphs contain nothing of substance to justify the increase. Admittedly costs in India have risen, as pointed out in Para 4. However, given the magnitude of the profits being made from the Stud Book of Authority's operations (see Table below), these increased costs can well be absorbed. To put it another way, the RWITC Ltd. has been making gargantuan profits from breeders all these years and cannot seem to contemplate an era when they would be making merely outrageous profits! 

Paragraph 5 of the Keeper's letter is not germane in any manner as sales have nothing to do with registration of Thoroughbreds. Paragraph 6 contains both a figment of imagination: "hampering the financial position of the Stud Book Authority of India" and an inadvertent truth: "increase all areas of revenue to curb a possible deficit". 

It seems the RWITC Ltd. has not grasped the fact that the Stud Book Authority of India is not meant to be a source of revenue. It is a registering body. Therefore its charges have to be related to the costs of registration and nothing else. Mismanagement of revenue from betting is the biggest single cause of the RWITC Ltd.'s financial problems – for example, the club turns a blind eye to the cancer of illegal betting. Why should breeders bear the cross for this failure?

That brings us to Paragraph 7 of the Keeper's letter, which slips in the fact that registration charges have not been increased for the last ten years. So what? Actually breeders ought to have opposed the usurious rates imposed a decade ago at that time. And if they did not, now is the time to do so!

The cat is let out of the bag later in the same paragraph when it is admitted that the major impact is on large farms that import stock. This raises a number of questions:

1)      Is the RWITC Ltd. appropriating the distributive justice component of taxation from the state?

2)      Does registering the offspring of imported stock cost more than registering the progeny of Indian stock?

3)      Can "small farms" ever aspire to becoming "large farms" if they are prevented by high costs from accessing imported stock?

4)      Despite evidence having been produced by the NHBSI, can the RWITC Ltd. justify the fact that their newly-minted registration charges for imported stallions (Rs.2,00,000 or $4,000) and imported broodmares (Rs.60,000 or $1,200) are the highest in the world? In the UK the corresponding figures are £175.46 (~Rs.14,000) and £74.17 (~Rs.6,000). In the US and Canada, there is no separate registration for stallions or broodmares and hence no fee! In Argentina, the fee is 500 pesos (~Rs.6,000). In South Africa, stallion registration costs R4,150 (~Rs.26,000). In some of these countries there are separate annual fees, but these are related to the level of activity.

5)      Has any attempt been made at cost-cutting by simplifying the system of registration of thoroughbreds (see companion article at this link)

6)      Do not breeders deserve adequate notice so that they can take a call as to whether to register a horse or not? Can one week be considered adequate notice?

All this has nothing to do with the calibre of service provided by the staff members of the Stud Book Authority of India, who are, by all accounts, doing a great job. The problem is purely that of the financial aspect of paying for services provided by a monopolistic organization, as there is no competition.

Fortunately, breeders are not powerless. Those that are members of the RWITC Ltd. can quite simply help to vote out those candidates in favour of this absurd scheme and elect those who commit to reversing this unjustified decision.

Those that are not can join hands and file a complaint with the Competition Commission of India, in New Delhi. The fee for doing so is Rs.5,000.00 for an individual. Full details are available at This Link

The Competition Act provides for remedy in the case of organizations abusing their dominant positions. Specifically, if it finds the action of an enterprise in a dominant position to be in contravention of Section 3 or Section 4, as the case may be, it may direct any enterprise to discontinue such abuse of dominant position, and impose such penalty as it may deem fit – upto 10% of the organization's turnover – upon each of such persons or enterprises which are parties to such agreements or abuse.

Who would want to be a Committee Member of the RWITC Ltd. when judgement day arrives, as it surely must??!!