Csa Plans Certification Arm In India

The Canadian standards association (CSA) India office which was set up in Bangalore recently plans to invest Rs 15 crore in setting up a subsidiary in India as part of an expansion of its activities.

The proposed subsidiary will act as a window to the North American market by standardising product certification. A branch of quality management institute (QMI) will also be established in Bangalore.

CSA sources said a proposal is likely to be made to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in a year's time. The present office was set up at a cost of around Rs one crore.

 

This is likely to expose Indian companies to QMI standards -- primarily the internationally recognised ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series. QMI, a division of CSA, is North America's leading management systems registrar. It issues certificates to companies in North America and overseas. So far, 3000 such certificates have been issued.

Among others, Indian infotech companies (IT) will become a major focus of CSA's QMI programme.

The subsidiary will help expose Indian companies to more than 200 CSA standards which are based on international (IEC) standards. CSA, being an accredited, non-US body to test and certify products to US standards, will help Indian manufacturers enter both the North American and the international markets.

Plans are also on cards to include a sophisticated laboratory and a quality test centre to enable Indian companies receive ISO 14000 eco-certification and the `Option 9000', which combines benefits of product certification from CSA and ISO 9000 quality registration from QMI.

CSA is an independent, non-government, non-profit association with headquarters in Toronto, Canada. It operates through a network of offices and partners across the world.

According to CSA, the proposed subsidiary in India is part of a plan embarked by the association for its certification and testing (C&T) division world over.

"We're expanding the nature and number of our services as well as our geographic presence to provide the level of service needed by countries," said sources.

According to C&T division vice-president Pat Paladino, Option 9000 customers include, among others, information technology (IT), lighting and process control companies.