BIS Published Easy and Elementary Procedure for ISI Certification

ISI stands for the Indian Standards Institute, a body set up when India gained Independence to create standards needed for orderly commercial growth and maintaining quality in industrial production. By the mid of 80’s the country’s socio-economic climate had changed, triggering the need to set up a stronger body, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which then took over ISI. But the term "ISI mark" continues to be used to mean that a certain product conforms to the quality standards set up by the government. ISI mark is a certification mark that is one of the most recognized signs of quality and safety in the Indian Subcontinent. The ISI mark is an indication of the fact that the product is in compliance with the related quality standard developed by BIS. The ISI mark signifies that the product is safe to use and has a good quality.

BIS director general Alka Panda said at a joint session organized by BIS and Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA), "This simplified scheme to grant a license to the products under mandatory certification will greatly reduce the time taken for grant of license and will improve the ease of doing business.". She focused on the need to have more standards for commonly used products so that consumers are not cheated into buying sub-standard, spurious products which have now flooded the market.

"The BIS and industry associations such as ISSDA should organize more such awareness programmes in order to bring to the knowledge of the common man the existence of such standards.", she added.

"In fact, the BIS slogan of ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ is a step towards educating the common man into buying good quality products irrespective of whether they are over the counter products or manufactured goods like stainless steel," Panda said.

During the event, Panda handed India’s largest stainless steel maker Jindal Stainless (Hisar), Vice Chairman Abhyuday Jindal, BIS certificates for being the first in the country in securing ISI Certification under the two BIS standards for the manufacturing of stainless steel flat products.

The need for a quality control order (QCO) in stainless steel was driven by the steel ministry as it had notified the quality control order of carbon steel products.

By this notification, the ministry has brought three BIS standards into the ambit of the quality control order, which means that all grades of stainless that have been mentioned must be certified by BIS irrespective of whether it is manufactured in India or imported into the country. Out of these three standards, two are for utensils and kitchenware application.

This move to include utensil grades was necessitated by the fact that over 52% of the stainless consumption in the country is towards utensils and kitchenware application, ISSDA said.

Keeping in view the large population that is exposed to stainless steel through cooking utensils, it became imperative for the ministry to protect the consumer in terms of stainless steel use. Therefore, stainless steel standards for utensils were brought under the ambit of the QCO, it added.

I am an experienced ISI Certification Consultant based in Delhi working at Brand Liaison India dedicated to provide quick ISI Certification services to manufacturers from all over the world.