Union Minister : Enhancing public awareness about standards is essential for empowering the consumers

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution & New and Renewable Energy, Shri Pralhad Joshi during his keynote address on World Standards Day in New Delhi today said that Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) should ensure that every citizen of India has access to safe, reliable and highly quality products and services. He said the well-being of consumers depend on the access to quality products while the growth and profitability of the industry is directly linked to the demand for these high-quality goods. This is a holistic approach acknowledging the interdependence of the consumers and producers fostering the robust quality ecosystem, he said.

Shri Joshi emphasised PM Shri Narendra Modi’s vision for the country to be recognised for its best quality and for India to strive to make itself synonymous with the world standards. He said that the BIS should focus on quality as India’s economy is rapidly growing along with its contribution in global trade. He stressed that the BIS has a huge role to play in enriching economic growth, enhancing the ‘Made in India’ label and establishing Brand Bharat at a global level.

The Minister said that under the guidance of Hon’ble PM, the new BIS Act of 2016 will further strengthen ease of doing business and will provide a fillip to the ‘Make in India’ campaign. Praising the BIS for their relentless efforts in standardisation of products, Shri Joshi said that today more than 22,300 standards are in force and 94% of Indian standards are being harmonised with ISO and ISE standards. Shri Joshi mentioned that today 174 QCOs of 732 products have been notified for compulsory BIS certification, while till 2014 there were only 14 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) of 106 products.

The Union Minister said that enhancing public awareness about standards is essential for empowering the consumers. The Minister said that the challenge for the government is to generate widespread interest and awareness among citizens in the standards programmes being undertaken by BIS. We have to set a standard where awareness is created among consumers to verify ISI and BIS certification before buying any product, that is the challenge for us, he said.

Shri Joshi said that India, currently being the fifth largest economy in the world, should focus on improving standards as they serve as the backbone of the society, ensuring the safety, quality and trust in the product and the service. Standards work as catalysts for technical development, industrial growth and well-being of the society. They facilitate both domestic and international trade contributing both for economic growth and environmental sustainability, he noted.

Shri Joshi said that for businesses, standards improve processes, systems, reduce waste and customer satisfaction supported through the compatibility with other markets while for consumers standards ensure reliability, consistency and safety of the products and interoperability.

During his address, he also applauded other standard development organisations (SDOs) like Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) operating across sectors. He further stated that the concept of one nation and one standard becomes paramount ensuring the coherence and synergy among stakeholders working towards the unified standards framework.

During the event, Shri Joshi launched BIS Care App 3.0. BIS CARE app is a one stop utility platform to empower consumers. It not only provides means to verify genuineness of BIS certified products and Hallmarked Jewelries, but it also facilitates lodging of complaints against sub-standard products and misuse of BIS Standard Marks. The brand-new upgrade of BIS CARE App to version 3.0 comes with a new set of features specifically aiming to increase visibility of relevant information for stakeholders pertaining to Standards and Certification.

Shri Joshi also launched a film on the Standards Promotion Activities of BIS along with a Quality Quest Game for consumers to enhance their knowledge on quality. To mark World Standards Day, he released Reference Handbooks to disseminate information regarding important national standards and also comic books developed by BIS to be distributed to Standards Clubs across the country.

The event was also graced by the Union Minister of State, Shri B.L. Verma, alongside Secretary of Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, Smt. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, Shri Bharat Khera, Director General of BIS, Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari. Key stakeholders from government, industry, and academia were also present on the occasion.