Consumer Affairs Ministry mandates selling of welding electrodes by kilograms

Welding electrodes are metal wires or rods that carry current and are used to generate heat for welding. They have a chemical coating that prevents burning

The Consumer Affairs Ministry has begun tightening the screws on the construction sector, mandating that welding electrodes must be sold in kilograms instead of pieces/numbers. It has also issued notices to tile companies, asking them to mention tile sizes on the boxes.

An order passed by the Legal Metrology division of the Consumer Affairs Ministry on November 30, has directed the manufacturers of this equipment to “declare quantity of each unit in weight… to give accurate & adequate information to consumers.”

"It has come to the notice of the ministry that welding electrodes are being sold in pieces or numbers as unit of measurement while in other countries it is sold in kg,” the notice read. It directed manufacturers/ importers/ packers to sell these welding electrodes in weight with the diameter of the welding rod in the interest of consumers. The order will be applicable from January 1, 2024.

Welding electrodes are metal wires or rods that carry current and are used to generate heat for welding. They have a chemical coating that prevents burning.

Used in all types of infrastructure development, these rods are crucial for a structure to sustain pressure on it. “If welding is not done right, the structure may crack,” Hardik Sanghvi, Director of Bombay based company, Royal Arc Electrodes told Moneycontrol.

Before the order was passed, industry players used number/pieces as a unit of measurement, he said. “This led to malpractices among manufacturers who kept the numbers the same but reduced the diameters/weight of this electrode,” Sanghvi said.

The ministry consulted with several stakeholders and went through international practices before passing the order, Director, Legal Metrology division, Ashutosh Agarwal said.

“A weak electrode will result in poor welding which will prove ineffective for infrastructure projects. Consumers, often not in the know of such minute details, bought whatever was being provided. Now we have mandated all manufacturers to describe units in kilograms which will bring similarity throughout the industry while discouraging those indulging in malpractices,” he told Moneycontrol.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry has also issued a similar notice to tile companies, asking them to declare dimensions as well as number of tiles on the boxes of manufactured products. The ministry has also directed all manufacturers and sellers to mention the month and year of manufacturing on all prepared commodities. The orders have been made implementable from January,1, 2024.