BIS Certification in India

BIS certification in India is a prerequisite requirement to launch and sell a product in the Indian domestic market for those products that fall under the ambit of compulsory BIS registration or FMCS. To debar the entry of poor-quality products or products that may cause injury to human health, the Bureau of Indian Standards, a wing of the Ministry of Commerce, has introduced various Indian Standards (IS) to ensure product quality and to make sure that products are not harmful during use and storage. There is a long list of products covered under mandatory BIS certification requirements. Products such as consumer home appliances, various types of toys, and different kinds of electronic gadgets used by people of different age groups in India are included under this requirement.

There is a long list of products that have been covered under mandatory BIS certification across different BIS schemes . Most electronic products such as TVs, speakers, portable lithium-ion batteries, etc., are covered under the CRS scheme, which is also known as Scheme–II. This list is only illustrative, as the CRS scheme covers a wide range of products for which BIS certification has been made mandatory by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India.

Now, Scheme–I, which is also known as the ISI Scheme or the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (FMCS), covers a large range of products such as steel products, cement, toys, aluminium alloy products, etc. The coverage of this scheme is very wide, and it is comparatively more complicated than the CRS scheme. Especially in the case of the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme, there is no complete online system for submitting the application, which makes the process more complicated. All the documents are required to be submitted in physical form to the BIS Head Office in Delhi. One of the most important aspects of this scheme is the inspection and audit conducted by the BIS team, which is a time-consuming process. It is mandatory for the BIS team to visit the manufacturing location and audit the manufacturing process.

It usually takes 5 to 6 months to complete the entire process and obtain BIS licence approval. Compared to the CRS scheme, the FMCS scheme involves a higher cost for registration.However, once a product obtains BIS certification, it gains better market access and a competitive advantage over other products. There may be certain products for which BIS certification is not mandatory; however, brands often obtain BIS certification on a suomotu basis. This helps build consumer confidence in the quality and safety of the product. Therefore, we can say that BIS certification is not only a regulatory compulsion, but also a mark of quality that helps a brand build its reputation and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors’ products.