QCOs Help Indian Manufacturers Access Larger Markets: Goyal

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said that every quality control orders or QCO introduced so far has eventually earned the support of the sectors because they have not only improved product quality but also helped Indian manufacturers access larger markets. The minister, however, emphasised on the importance of implementation of QCO for electrical appliances at the stakeholder meet convened by DPIIT in New Delhi this week.

During the meet, the industry presented their concerns and highlighted issues faced by them. However, the meeting elaborated on the issues being faced by the industry in the implementation of horizontal QCO on “safety of household, commercial and similar electrical appliances” notified by DPIIT on September 20, 2024. “The government is committed to building a system that ensures consumer safety and industry competitiveness,” said Goyal in a statement.

However, the industry requested for notifying QCOs on finished goods first followed by QCOs on components and raw materials, considering the complexity of global supply chains. “Mapping domestic manufacturing capacities and available technologies to align compliance timelines. A phased rollout was also proposed,” the industry suggested.

Major concerns raised by the Industry inter alia included the following- ambiguity as regards to coverage of DC supplied appliances and battery-operated appliances; non-availability of product manuals and test labs all 85 appliances included in the illustrative list; lack of certification by domestic manufacturers as well as foreign manufacturers; insufficient time available for getting the BIS certification for domestic as well as foreign manufacturers; addressing the issue of legacy stock and non-acceptance of non-BIS marked products on e-commerce platform.

However, the minister also requested industry to come up with the proposal for setting up more testing facilities with modern technology in public funded labs, labs in public sector enterprises and labs in state government institutions etc so that that robust and accessible testing infrastructure will be made available for the industry pan India.