Piyush Goyal Engages Electronics Industry on Quality Control Rollout

• Union Minister Piyush Goyal met with electronics industry leaders in Delhi to discuss the implementation of horizontal Quality Control Orders (QCOs) aimed at improving consumer safety and product quality.
• The meeting focused on applying horizontal QCOs across various electrical appliances, making BIS certification mandatory to ensure compliance with Indian standards for safety, reliability, and performance.
• Minister Goyal emphasized enhancing India's global competitiveness in the electronics sector, highlighting the need for policy support, innovation, and industry collaboration to boost exports and quality manufacturing.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal conducted a meeting in Delhi with the main players of the electronics sector to discuss implementing horizontal Quality Control Orders (QCOs). The gathering was to make consumer safety stronger with improved standards of quality for electrical appliances in the country.

In a social media message, the minister termed the interaction as 'productive' and underlined that talks centered on the implementation of horizontal QCOs for electrical items.

Piyush Goyal tweeted, "Had a constructive engagement with industry leaders from the electronics sector today. The discussion focused on the use of horizontal Quality Control Orders (QCOs) to further improve the safety of electrical appliances for the benefit of consumers. Also, looked into opportunities for further growth and increased global competitiveness of the sector".

Quality Control Orders (QCOs) are government legal documents under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act that make it mandatory for some goods to meet certain Indian standards.

After a QCO comes into force, manufacturers are required to get a BIS certification and mark their products. The aim is to ensure that products available in the Indian market meet specified standards of safety, reliability, and performance. Non-compliance can draw legal sanctions and prohibition of sale of non-certified products.

The expression 'horizontal QCOs' means orders that are applicable to many types of products across a sector, as opposed to being specific to one product only.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India is involved in activities of Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Quality Assurance of goods, articles, processes, systems and services. Indian Standards created by BIS is the foundation of the Product Certification Schemes, which offers Third Party Assurance of Quality, Safety and Reliability of products to consumers.

For the electronics sector, this translates into an extended application of quality standards to include several electrical and electronic appliances under one common structure.

In the meeting, Minister Goyal also spoke of growth prospects for the electronics sector with an emphasis on giving Indian production houses more global competitiveness. The discussions involved seeking policy intervention and industry partnership to enhance innovation, quality, and exports in the sector.