Punjab, Haryana SMEs shun BIS listing

The states of Punjab and Haryana have over 300,000 SME units but out of these only 2,124 (till February 25, 2009) are registered with BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard).

This is even less than 1 per cent of the total number of units.

This figure provided by the BIS office at Chandigarh includes the small outfits in Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir also, but since the number of units is less in Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir so this reflects mainly the trend in Punjab and Haryana.

The number of units registered with BIS Chandigarh in 2005-06 was 2,600.

This slided to 2,038 in 2007-08 and now stands at 2125.

 

The officials expect the number to rise by the end of March.

Deputy Director General of BIS Chandigarh, Bhupinder Singh, told Business Standard, "We get new business outfits and lose old ones. So its not that people are not aware but it depends on their need. Many people get the certification to be eligible for government tenders and if they lose they do not renew the certification".

He said BIS had been conducting the awareness camps to encourage SMEs to opt for certification.

He added that some small units avoided from BIS certification as they had to maintain specific infrastructure, research laboratories, technical staff and marking fees.

Punjab and Haryana had many ancillary units catering to the auto industry and did not need BIS certification.

A senior member of CII Chandigarh, owing an auto ancillary unit, said the unit adhered to specifications laid down by its client and so did not need certifiation. Similarly, large clusters like hosiery and textile units in Punjab did their own branding. Bhupinder Singh said paint, cattlefeed and sanitaryware manufacturers registered with BIS.