Small footwear companies given up to one year to implement quality controls: Piyush Goyal

These orders will help increase production and export of quality footwear, according to the government.

The government has decided to give some leeway to micro and small enterprises in the footwear industry to implement quality controls, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

Speaking at a press briefing on June 14 in the Capital, Goyal said while micro-enterprises in the footwear sector have been given an extra year to enforce quality controls, small firms have been given an extra six months.

As such, the new deadline for implementing Quality Control Orders, or QCOs, for micro-enterprises is now July 1, 2024 and for small enterprises it is January 1, 2024.

Other players, however, have not been given a respite.

The announcement comes after demands from the footwear industry to extend the deadline for the enforcement of these mandatory controls by a year.

Goyal said that these orders will help in increasing the production and export of quality footwear and establishing Indian brands in the global markets.

“The order will come into force from July 1. It was decided not to do any change in that. No extension will be given and everybody has agreed to that," he told reporters.

While the quality controls will come into effect for 24 footwear products from July 1, manufacturers will be given an additional six months to comply with five recently revised standards.

According to the 'Footwear Made from Leather and Other Materials (Quality Control) Order, 2022', which will come into force from July 1, manufacturers have to modify their processes to comply with the new standards.

This includes establishing testing laboratories, obtaining licenses from the Bureau of Indian Standards, and adhering to the rules for issuing the ISI mark.

It was also announced that the BIS will reduce the testing charges for the footwear products under the QCOs by 80 percent for the certified start-ups and micro-industrial units.

The BIS will also dedicate one hour every working day for interaction through a video conference facility from June 19, Goyal said.