Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday urged Indians to adopt a nationalist spirit akin to that seen in countries like Japan and South Korea, where consumers consistently prioritise locally produced goods, even when they come at a higher cost. 

Speaking at a symposium organised by the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) in the capital, Goyal emphasised that this approach is crucial for India’s economic growth and development. 

He called on Indian businesses and citizens to collaborate, elevate quality standards within the domestic market, and avoid the allure of imported goods solely due to their availability or lower prices.

Goyal also wanted big industry to take the lead and persuade companies which are known for high quality standards, and their technical people to associate themselves with the 30,000 committees that Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has.

“All of us should make India synonymous with quality on the world stage. Our export competitiveness will not come from government subsidies or support. It is not going to come from closing the doors to the rest of the world. If we are to be a self reliant India, it will come when we realise that quality is not our job, it is our duty”, Goyal added.

Quality control orders

Goyal also reeled out statistics to highlight that India until 2014 had only 14 quality control orders. “Only 14. Covering about 106 products. In the last 10 years, we have expanded to 174 quality control orders covering today’s 732 products. A 7 x growth or a 6 x growth in 10 years to ensure that more and more people become aligned with better quality standards”, he said.

In fact, there is still a lot of work to do in terms of getting industry aligned with these quality standards, he said.

“We often face a lot of initial difficulty when we are introducing these, quality control orders. Originally, the thinking was just setting BIS standards will be good enough.

But, over a period of time, it is recognised that, despite having good standards in the country, getting more and more people to engage and focus on working to those standards was not a very successful experiment”, he said.