BIS certification creating woes

Come October 3rd 2013-the extended BIS deadline is merely a week away-companies are under immense stress to obtain the mandatory registration number to carry on with their business in the country. However, there are indications that the government will extend the deadline by another four months.

When contacted Department of Electronics and Information Technology , the officials did not confirm on any official notice being issued in this regard. However, industry sources indicated a high-level meeting between Union Minister for Communications and IT Kapil Sibal and industry representatives late on Thursday and the outcome would be an extension in the deadline. This will be the third extension of the deadline and indeed a breather for the industry once the formal announcement is out.

Commenting on this scenario, Rahul Agarwal, executive director, commercial business segment of PC maker Lenovo India said, "There has been a proliferation of IT products in our daily lives and the BIS certification initiative is a positive step towards encouraging only genuine products in the market. The volume of the products applying for the certification is overwhelming across categories, but the deadline is too short. The October 3 deadline is unrealistic and the government has to put more resources on the job to shorten the turnaround time. We are hopeful that the deadline will be extended, allowing the companies to submit their products without paying a late fee. Lenovo submitted 150 products and only about 50 had been certified yet. Overall, the intent is good, but execution was not planned to support the volumes of new products."

Chetan Shah, managing director, Xpress Computers said, "Many small importers who I had a discussion with told me that this time the customs had released their consignment, however, have clearly informed it will not be not be released without BIS certification." He further added, "The process of BIS certification is difficult as well as expensive and this will create a problems for small importers. This might lead to delay in imports and many will even consider to hold back on orders for now."

Government of India has made BIS registration mandatory for products under 15 categories ranging from video games, laptop, notebook, tablet and plasma/LCD/LED televisions, to microwave, printers and scanners, telephone answering machines, electronic music systems, etc. The deadline to obtain the registration has been already extended twice (from June 3rd to July 3rd and July 3rd to October 3rd, this year) due to lack of testing labs, frequent changes in guidelines, missing technical details and delay in the certification process.

As per DeitY, grant of interim extension to manufacturers of the fifteen notified goods under the Compulsory Registration Scheme has been progressing smoothly. The status in this regard as on August 29, 2013 is as follows wherein over 647 applications were received by DeitY and over 518 Extension Orders issued by DeitY. Remaining applications are in advanced stages of scrutiny. Details from BIS regarding number of applications received and the number of registrations issued, were not readily available.

Rahul Khurd, secretary, CMDA said, "It is indeed a good mover but the timeframe given is not appropriate. This move by government will have an adverse impact on SI community as a lot of them assemble to create a final product and not much information is available on how to go about getting certification. The entire process to get BIS is time consuming and expensive and above all lacks clarity at various levels." He further added, "70-80% members of CMDA are SIs and we feel they will be affected. Government needs to communicate it more effectively and has have in depth clarity in this regard."

In a nutshell, it seems this initiative from the government of India is good and with the right intent, however, the guidelines and deadlines along with lack of adequate infrastructure will directly impact the trade. Also, this will be a good move for consumers especially as it will eradicate the inflow of cheap and inferior products into India.