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The Government may extend the deadline for electronics and IT hardware makers to register their products with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
This comes after the hardware manufacturers told the Government that they would not be able to meet the April 3 deadline.
BIS certification
The Government had earlier issued the Compulsory Registration Order 2012 which made it mandatory for all electronic and IT products to be registered under the BIS by April 3.
The move was aimed at making sure that all products sold in the country meet the safety measures set by the Government, passed by BIS approved testing laboratories. Under this order, if any product is found to be substandard or defective under these norms, will be treated as scrap and disposed.
15 products
There are 15 electronic products under this list including video games, microwave ovens, laptops, tablet computers, LCD television, telephone answering machines, electronic music systems and printers.
“We are examining on some representations from individual companies and Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and will decide on a final call within this week on extending a date for the deadline,” J. Satyanarayana, Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), told Business Line .
MAIT said the Indian electronics market is set to suffer a major slump in fiscal year 2013-14 and the industry may lose over Rs 1,000 crore if the Government fails to extend the April 3 deadline.
It said that though the companies were ready to comply with these standards and tests, the Government needs to address the issues faced by the industry in meeting the deadline.
Supply crunch
Demanding an extension of the deadline by a minimum six months, MAIT warned that if the Government does not pay heed to its advice, there would be a supply crunch in the market and the already troubled IT hardware industry would suffer losses.
“It will also have a huge impact on the Indian economy as there might be delays in the launch of new products and supply of key components in the market,” J.V. Ramamurthy, President, MAIT, said.
This will eventually impact consumers, he said, adding that the shortage and delays in supply will also hamper Government and private projects, including ongoing e-Governance initiatives in India.
Around 8,000 products are to be tested from an average five factories each and these labs take around 4-6 weeks to test one product, he said.
However, the Government said it will soon notify more BIS labs for faster certifications.
There are four BIS certified laboratories right now one each in Delhi and Mumbai, two in Bangalore.
>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in
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