JMG makers reluctant to opt for BIS certification

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 18

Despite the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) making it mandatory for kitchen appliance makers to get certification, very few of them from the juicer, mixer and grinder (JMG) cluster at Ambala have opted for the same. They blame the lack of testing infrastructure and high certification cost for the same.

In October 2018, the BIS had notified that makers of domestic electric food mixers (liquidisers and grinders) and centrifugal juicers will have to conform to its standards to mandatorily obtain a licence to use the standard mark. It gave manufacturers time till April 2019 to comply with these norms. The deadline was later extended by six months. However, very few of them have applied for the same so far.

“To get an ISI mark under the BIS certification is an expensive and long procedure and most of the units can’t afford it as the manufacturers fall under micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) category. The overall cost to obtain an ISI mark is about Rs 7-10 lakh which is very high,” said Lal Chand Goel, patron, Ambala Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association.

According to them, the domestic mixer grinder requires 200-300 parts of different raw materials from various vendors. As per BIS standards, it requires various testing machines for different tests.

“According to a BIS clause, the raw material used should conform to relevant Indian standards wherever they exist,” he added.

The manufacturers said arranging equipment as per the BIS Scheme of Testing and Inspection (STI) and further getting them tested was practically not possible for the MSMEs because of high cost involved.

Another kitchen appliance manufacturer said smaller and regional players were impacted more compared to the national players.

They said the industry was struggling to sustain, with many of the units having shut down in the recent past. The JMG cluster of Ambala comprises around 100 units in the MSME sector. Out of these, there would be around 30 JMG manufacturers while the remaining are ancillaries or parts manufacturers.

At present, Ambala produces around 5,000 units of JMGs per day and serves the northern region.

“We are not against BIS certification, but the government should create common laboratories for testing various parts and equipment and bring down the certification cost,” said Ambala Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association president Ajay Aggarwal.

The BIS is planning to organise awareness workshops in association with District Industries Centre, said a BIS official.