 "Quality Control Orders")
Quality control orders (QCOs) were meant to protect product quality, but now they manipulate competition in India’s market. Earlier, anyone could import goods by paying import duty or obtaining a licence. Now, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) decides who can import and from which factory — and the rules can change overnight. This makes compliance costly, reduces the number of suppliers, and risks creating a system even worse than the old licensing raj. Small businesses lose out to bigger companies with more influence.
A recent example is the steel ministry’s June 13 order. It
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