A government-appointed panel led by NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba has suggested that India reconsider its approach to Quality Control Orders (QCOs), arguing that the surge in mandatory standards has added to compliance costs and disrupted industrial supply chains, reported the Business Standard.
The committee -- which includes representatives from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the Ministry of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and major industry bodies like Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) -- believes that “QCOs should largely apply to finished goods that have a direct bearing on consumer safety, health, and product quality.” The panel has, thus, proposed the cancellation, suspension, and deferment of QCOs of over 200 products.
According to an internal report submitted last month, the “high-level committee on non-financial regulatory reforms” has advised the government to scrap 27 existing QCOs covering crucial inputs such as base metals, plastics, footwear, polymers, and electronic components, the report said. It has also proposed suspending QCOs for 112 products and postponing some that are set to come into effect soon.
Officials familiar with the matter told the publication the panel’s main rationale was to ease regulatory strain on manufacturing, particularly for MSMEs, which have been struggling with the growing list of mandatory standards. Many QCOs now extend beyond consumer goods and into the production of raw materials and industrial intermediates. “Restrictions on polyester fibre and yarn and high-grade steel have forced several plants to operate below capacity, raised input costs, and hurt exports,” the committee observed.
The group has recommended that any deferment of QCOs be reviewed by an inter-ministerial panel and implemented by the respective ministries -- including textiles, steel, mines, and chemicals.
QCOs, issued by various government departments in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), are binding regulations intended to ensure safety and quality, unlike the voluntary benchmarks that BIS also issues. However, the expansion of these orders in recent years -- from 70 products in 2016 to around 790 now -- has drawn increasing criticism from industry and trade partners alike, the report said.
Countries such as the US and the European Union have reportedly raised these QCOs as potential non-tariff barriers in ongoing trade talks. The committee, set up barely three months ago, has therefore called for “a balanced approach” that maintains quality safeguards without undermining industrial competitiveness.
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