The Centre has expedited implementing some of the Rajiv Gauba-led deregulation committee’s recommendations to rationalise India’s quality control regime, while preserving consumer safety. The move follows concerns expressed by experts and industry circles that a proliferation of mandatory Quality Control Orders (QCOs) in recent years might have stifled domestic manufacturing.
One of the most visible outcomes has been a reduction in the number of products covered under mandatory QCOs, dropping from a peak of around 750 to 624. Different central ministries have withdrawn 50 mandatory QCOs covering 54 products and deferred or suspended seven such orders covering many other products, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Director General Sanjay Garg told FE.
Following the committee’s recommendations, the Cabinet Secretary and the Department of Consumer Affairs wrote to key ministries overseeing QCO implementation to review the existing orders and assess whether products that do not pose significant health, safety or environmental risks could be shifted to a less burdensome certification route.
The Gauba committee made two major recommendations relating to BIS. The first was to extend licence validity and simplify renewals. “We have increased the licence validity period to five years from one or two years earlier. Licences are renewed automatically online, while manufacturers continue to pay fees annually instead of paying five years’ fees upfront. This reduces the financial burden on industry,” Garg said.
The second recommendation related to BIS’s certification framework. While the committee proposed merging BIS’s 10 certification schemes into two, BIS felt a complete merger was not feasible because different schemes cater to different products and are aligned with international practices.
Instead, the schemes have been grouped into two broad categories—those requiring factory inspection and those that do not. “Our regulations also specify that factory-inspection schemes should ordinarily be used only for products involving health, safety or security concerns,” Garg said. Some ministries have begun following these guidelines.
In October 2025, the Gauba committee on non-financial deregulation recommended rolling back most QCOs on raw materials, intermediates, and capital goods, saying the system inflates costs but does not necessarily improve safety. The committee found that India’s rapid expansion of QCOs—though aimed at improving quality — led to supply shortages, higher input costs, and long certification delays, especially for MSMEs.
Many QCOs cover raw materials that pose no direct safety or environmental risk, making such regulation unnecessary. The committee noted that most countries use voluntary or buyer-based standards, while India’s overregulation has distorted manufacturing and trade efficiency.
Garg clarified that BIS has implemented recommendations falling within its mandate. “As far as BIS is concerned, QCOs are issued by the respective line ministries, not by us… BIS formulates standards and administers certification,” he said. BIS standards remain voluntary until a ministry notifies them as mandatory through a QCO under the BIS Act.
Responding to industry concerns that mandatory quality norms for raw materials and intermediate goods raise production costs, Garg said, “I do not fully agree with that interpretation. QCOs are intended to ensure quality, irrespective of whether the product is imported or manufactured domestically.”
“As India moves towards becoming a developed country by 2047, domestic industry also has to upgrade its quality standards. Consumers cannot be expected to continue using substandard products,” the official said.
To ease compliance, BIS has introduced fee concessions of up to 80% for micro enterprises, removed the requirement for in-house testing laboratories and is funding common testing infrastructure for MSME clusters.
While BIS has framed over 24,000 standards, only 624 are mandatory through QCOs issued by the ministries. “It is for the respective ministry to decide whether a standard should remain voluntary or be made mandatory,” Garg said.
Highlighting the benefits of QCOs for the industry, he cited the toy sector for instance where imports have fallen by more than 70% since compulsory QCOs were introduced and India has become a net exporter. Similar improvements have been recorded in footwear, underscoring the role of quality standards in boosting domestic manufacturing and export competitiveness.