India sets its own standard for electronic goods

Electronic goods sold in India will have to comply with Indian standards from April next year

Come April 2013, manufacturers of laptop, desktops, printers and other electronics items will have to get their products certified from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in order to sell those in the country.

With an aim of curbing the grey market for sub-standard electronics products, the government has made it mandatory for all electronics goods manufacturer in the country to get standard compliant certificate from the BIS. It will be applicable for electronic products imported or manufactured after April 2013.

This is the first time India is imposing its own standards on global products.

“Around 30-40% of the overall electronics market in India is now grey market. Some of them are sub-standard products. To safeguard the consumers, we have made it mandatory for the electronics manufacturer to get a standard complaint certificate before selling it in the market,” said a senior official of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTy). The department had issued an order pertaining to this earlier this year.

Under this, the DeiTy has listed 15 product categories the sellers of which are mandatorily required to obtain standard compliant certificates before selling in India. Those include laptops, tablets, LCD, LED televisions, optical disc players, microwave ovens, printers, scanners, wireless keyboards, video monitors, telephone answering machines, amplifiers, musical systems, electronic clocks and set top boxes among others.

“We are also trying to create awareness among the consumers to go for standardised products. We have approached the Jago Grahak  forum to include this as a part of their consumer awareness campaigns,” the DeiTy official added.

In the second phase, the department is planning to include mobile phones and some other electronics goods which will have to comply with the new standard. The standards have been set by a multi-stakeholders group comprising of members from the DeiTy, BIS and others.

The manufacturers will have to send the products to the accredited laboratories that will conduct the tests and send the report to the BIS who will issue the certificates.

“If the products failed to meet the standards, the manufacturers will have to deform the items beyond use and disposed it off as scrap,” he added.

Designated officials from the DeiTy will also have the powers to inspect, enter and search any premises and seize electronic goods which they believe are not complying with the standard.

Though the industry has welcomed the move, some are apprehensive about the implementation and duplication of efforts.

"It is a good thing to have standards for electronics items. But the government should give some relaxation to the global players who are already confirming to International standards. The standards required by the Indian government are similar to the International standards," said Alok Bharadwaj, Sr. Vice President of Canon India who is also a former president of the industry body Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT).

According to an industry expert, the new order can create business disruption for some of the electronics manufacturers. As per the law, every factory will have to be registered with the BIS for testing. If the manufacturer is not manufacturing the product in India, then the products need to be tested by a laboratory in the country of its origin. However, to conduct such testing the foreign lab will first have to get accreditation from the BIS. The hardware industry body MAIT is likely take this issue up with the government.

According to the data by Electronics Industries Association of India (ELCINA), electronics products market in India is expected to touch $ 158 billion by 2015.