MSMEs Call for Dialogue: Hoping for Collaborative BIS Reform

Image Source: Zee Business

India's MSMEs have urgently appealed to the government to amend the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification standards, threatening the current regulations can ruin small industries and lead to large-scale losses of jobs.

Major Highlights:

Burden of Compliance: Industry associations like AISSIA and FAM contend that it is not financially viable for majority of MSMEs to provide mandatory BIS certification under new Quality Control Order (QCO), with licence and compliance expenditure going into lakhs.
Financial Burden: MSMEs experience high initial charges, purchases of new machinery, and lengthy documentation, all of which stress thin margins and restricted cash flows.
Industry Under Threat: Stainless steel cutlery manufacturers and other small industry players caution that numerous businesses can close down, threatening huge unemployment and supply chain disruption.
Sector Calls For: Associations are calling for exemptions to MSMEs, extended timelines for implementation, and more defined exemption criteria, in addition to greater stakeholder consultations.
Partial Relief, but Not Sufficient: Although the BIS has granted fee concessions to micro and small enterprises, industry captains say the technical and procedural barriers are still too high.