High standard products imp to access discerning mkts: Kher

The government today asked the industry to manufacture and fix high standard for accessing discerning markets and enhance competitiveness of goods.
Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher also said that fixing high standards and technical regulations would help in restricting imports of sub-standard goods.
"A new architecture of global trade is evolving and it is important for us to elevate ourselves in terms of standards and technical regulations for goods and services. Standards play a very significant role in enhancing competitiveness in the global market," Kher said here at a CII function.
"It will help you (Indian industry) to access markets, which are highly discerning," he said adding if the industry would not subscribe to good standards both for domestic and international markets it would be difficult for them to tap new markets.

The issue is important as both the domestic and global markets are becoming quality conscious. Declining product competitiveness is one of the reason for dip in the country's merchandise exports.
Kher said that significant amount of work is required as setting up of high standard norms are "no more a luxury but it is a necessity".

Listing out challenges on the matter, he said there is a need to create an institution for adoption of standards.
"One of the challenge is to get the last stakeholder understand the importance of standards and technical regulations," Kher said adding "we need to work harder on few sectors" because it would be difficult to focus on all the segments.

"In new free trade agreements, we are trying to re-orient them to see how we can pickup those product areas and work towards technical ecosystem," he added.
Speaking at the event, Quality Council of India (QCI) chairman Adil Zainulbhai said quality and standards of products will not only help in increasing exports but also improving quality of life of people.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Keshav Desiraju too emphasised on the need to enhance quality of goods and services.