Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Drawing attention to the quality standards introduced for making BIS mandatory for all footwear types, except Hawai slippers, sandals and slippers, and sports shoes which are exempted till December 31, 2023, the footwear industry has said that the standards and implementation directions are not scientific. Consequently, the industry, which majorly has MSMEs, will not be able to follow BIS and will see the closure of such units while only a handful of organised and multinational businesses will exist, ANI reported citing the press release by India PR Distribution.
While the footwear industry is not against BIS or quality standards, the current standards are not scientific or practical, the release noted. The industry requested to continue with the BIS exemption for micro and small enterprises by the government and also urged the MSME Ministry, DPIIT and Commerce Ministry for correction at the earliest to save MSMEs.
According to the release, BIS has published one standard for sports footwear – general purpose which is the same for an injection mould PVS shoe that will cost Rs 300 in the market and for sports shoes made by multinational companies costing Rs 3,000.
Similarly, Hawai slippers have the same standards for a non-branded product costing Rs 100 and a branded product of Rs 1,000. Citing a government study, the release said that over 75 per cent of the Indian footwear industry is unorganised and employs around 44.2lakh people.
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The release noted that two-three years should be provided to all industries till BIS rolls out proper standards to cover product category, product price, process of manufacturing and raw material used. It added that enforcement of BIS should not be retrospective and that it should be applicable to products made after the final date of implementation of BIS instead of goods manufactured before the implementation.
The concern was raised in a press conference in Calicut which was attended by MSME Footwear Action Council Chairman VKC Razak, General Convenor Maliyakkal Babu, CIFI Kerala Chapter President PP Muzammil, Fooma Kerala President Rajith Mullasseri, General Secretary Shamsudheen etc.
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The government, in consultation with the footwear industry, had decided to include MSMEs under the ambit of compliance, effective from January 1, 2024. After the deadline, MSMEs in the footwear industry will have to maintain quality standards, unlike earlier when they were excluded from the regulatory framework. An additional time limit of six months was provided to micro enterprises but will have to follow the guidelines from July 1, 2024.