Smartphone screen protectors to come under BIS standards from April 2027

The move is aimed at curbing substandard imports and grey-market trade in a Rs 12,000-15,000 crore market where Chinese products currently dominate supplies

India could become a global hub for manufacturing smartphone screen protectors, industry leaders said on Tuesday, a day after the government said the product must pass Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) tests to be allowed to be sold in the country.

 

“The introduction of mandatory BIS standards for screen protectors marks an important milestone for the category and a welcome step towards building a quality-led, Made-in-India ecosystem,” said Ashok Gupta, executive chairman, Optiemus Infracom Ltd, a leading manufacturer of screen protectors. 

 

“With the right standards, scale and capabilities, India can move beyond being a major consumer market to becoming a global hub for screen-protector manufacturing, creating greater value in India, for India and for the world.”

 

His company is building on its existing screen-protector manufacturing capabilities, with a planned additional capacity of 20 million units to meet emerging demand and contribute to the growth of the domestic ecosystem.

 

Industry stakeholders said that going forward, the challenge will be in creating the testing infrastructure needed to ensure the screen protectors measure up to BIS standards. These include stress tests, tests of depth of layer, visual and optical quality tests, and dimensional tolerance of the product.

 

Under an order issued by the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) on Monday, makers of screen protectors, usually made of tempered glass, will have to conform to BIS standards from April 1,  2027 – whether they are imported or domestically manufactured.   

 

The domestic market for screen protectors is pegged by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA)  at a substantial Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore per year. Indians buy over 500 million screen protectors every year, and the market is growing at a CAGR of 10 per cent.  

 

ICEA, which has been pushing for such a move since 2022, said domestic manufacturers are unable to compete due to unfair trade practices from imports. ICEA took up the matter with commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal in February, saying the industry is not asking for any financial incentive from the government – only quality standards to ensure a level playing field.

 

Stakeholders said going forward there is also a need to ensure that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have been part of the discussions have adequate time to make the transition.

 

“This move can unlock significant opportunities for local value addition, employment generation and the growth of MSMEs and allied industries across the value chain,” Gupta said. 

 

The government order is also expected to unlock revenue lost to the vast grey market in smartphone screen protectors. The market is unorganised, fragmented and dominated by cheap Chinese imports.

 

ICEA said there is rampant under-invoicing and misdeclaration, which has led to massive custom revenue and goods and service tax (GST) leakage for the government.