India Inc cautious on BIS norms

The government’s move to bring 19,000 items under the mandatory compliance of the Bureau of Industrial Standards has been widely welcomed by manufacturers, but with a cautionary note that infrastructure like laboratories and skilled manpower must be put in place without much delay.

Mr J. Pande, senior director, Indian Electrical Equipment Manufacturers Association said, “It is definitely a good idea if implemented properly.” “In the case of the transformer sector, there are 1,000 manufacturers in India. But there are only two laboratories. If there are 200-300 applications received, how will these be handled,” Mr Pande asked.

According to him, the proposed National Standards Body need to have the infrastructure to enforce compliance in 19,000 items within a timeframe. Apart from Indian products, foreign imports will also have conform to BIS standards. Welcoming the move, Mr P.S. Deodhar, former Electronics Commission chairman, said, “The cost for testing should also be reasonable and not as costly as it is today.

“The government must incentivise the setting up of labs, so that there is competition and costs are brought down,” said Mr Deodhar. He also pointed out that the approval system at the lower levels is infested with corruption and controlling this will be a major issue. Equally enthused by this development, Anupam Shah, chairman, Engineering Export Promotion Council said, “One of the reasons for this development is the growing incidence of technical barriers to trade faced by Indian exporters abroad. If our manufacturers conform to BIS standards, we can accordingly check sub-standard imports.”

Referring to cost increases in observing these standards, Mr Shah said, “This is something for the future and our manufacturers must be willing to bear short-term pain for long-term gains.” Mr J. Pande, senior director, Indian Electrical Equipment Manufacturers Association says, “There are 1,000 transformer manufacturers in India. But there are only twolaboratories. If there are 200-300 applications received, how will these be handled.”