&w=3840&q=100)
Standards & QCOs: A strategic lever for Viksit Bharat manufacturing agenda
In the last few years, we have seen enactment of regulations by the Government of India that 'raised the floor' by imposing a minimum quality standard on all producers selling in the domestic market. A total of 187 Quality Control Orders (QCOs), covering 769 products, have been notified for compulsory BIS certification by various regulators and line ministries of the Government of India. Industry is fast catching up to comply with these regulations.
Notwithstanding some teething issues in the implementation of these QCOs, they have to be a key pillar of India's industrial growth strategy. They are now emerging as strategic tools to strengthen India's manufacturing ecosystem, ensure consumer safety, and build global trust in Indian-made goods. The government has been systematically expanding the QCO regime across sectors to curb substandard imports, safeguard consumer interests, and foster a robust, quality-conscious manufacturing ecosystem without any major disruptions in the supply chain.
The government has adopted a consultative and collaborative approach to the formulation and implementation of QCOs, with an emphasis on active industry engagement. Reflecting the government's sensitivity to industry readiness, especially for MSMEs, several QCOs have been notified with phased implementation timelines and given due extensions as well. The government is also undertaking concerted efforts to strengthen testing infrastructure, streamline certification processes, and extend capacity-building support.
Developed countries have long used technical regulations as tools, inter alia, to shape global trade dynamics. For many decades, India and other developing countries sought special and differential treatment for their exports to comply with such high — and often arbitrary — standards of the developed world, but to no avail.
India's strategic use of QCOs reflects a shift from being a passive consumer market to an assertive, quality-focused manufacturing economy. Going forward, India must move from being an adaptor of international standards to a developer of these standards in international foras. Countries such as the Republic of Korea and, more recently, China have shifted from marginally participating in international standards-setting organisations such as the ISO or the IEC to chairing some of their working groups and developing an increasing number of standards. The time is now for India to set the standards on the world stage.
The author is the Director General of FICCI
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Rephasing global development finance
India's development cooperation with the Global South has been showing a rising trend for the last several years. India has made consistent efforts to expand the facets of these engagements and has also almost doubled the flow of quantum — from around $3 billion in 2010-11 to around $7 billion in 2023-24. While capacity building programmes and the initiatives for technology transfer and duty-free access to India markets have been important modalities of this engagement, the main instrument has been the extension of lines of credit (LoC) under the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS). If budgetary provisions for 2025-26 are any indication, the red flag from the Ministry of Finance on credit lines, as a modality of engagement, is absolutely clear. At the G-20, India expressed serious concerns over rising sovereign debt levels across the Global South. During the third Voice of Global South Summit (VoGS) in 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi articulated the concept of a Global Development Compact (GDC), thereby implying a harmonious balance between all the modalities of engagement with the Global South. It is worth noting that there are five modalities of engagement, viz., capacity building, technology transfer, market access, grants and concessional finance. This balanced approach on modalities may be supplemented by India by having wider and deeper partnerships with countries that can work across third countries. In this backdrop, under the modalities of engagement, India has to refocus on LoCs as an instrument of engagement. India was largely borrowing from global capital markets and providing the resources to the partner countries at a concessional rate of interest. The difference in the rates of interest was being absorbed by the Government of India. With a rising global liquidity crisis, such schemes have lost their relevance as capital market predictability and the repaying capabilities of partner countries have become severely constrained. India should take full advantage of this new reality. Shrinking ODA and debt crisis The traditional official development assistance (ODA) providers are going through their own budgetary crisis while the partners of the Global South have challenges in coping with the debt crisis. With rising geopolitical complexities, the flow of global development finance in any case is witnessing a profound decline. The collapse of USAID and the decline of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have highlighted the emerging crisis in development finance. The availability and leveraging of resources have been hampered further by the declining trend in ODA, which is likely to be close to $97 billion. This proposed slashing of foreign aid is a near 45% reduction from the levels of ODA in 2023, which stood at around $214 billion. At the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), its Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has been an elite club for ODA providers, dictating the terms and conditions for the economic and political programmes for the South. Shrinkage in the resource flow is likely to affect several development programmes, across least developed economies, particularly at a time when several of them are passing through an unprecedented debt crisis. Over the last 20 years, a series of overlapping crises and major geopolitical and economic transformations have reshaped the global financial environment, leaving many developing countries struggling to access funding. This has posed a risk to development progress at risk and jeopardised achievements. The investment needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030 has also surged from $2.5 trillion in 2015 to over $4 trillion in 2024. Without a major increase in financing, progress toward the SDGs (already derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other global shocks) will remain elusive. Simultaneously, borrowing has become costlier and less predictable. Rationale for triangular cooperation A ray of hope lies in the possibility of evolving a new mechanism of pooling resources with like-minded countries. The flows from the 19 non-DAC countries that report to the OECD rose from $1.1 billion in 2000 to $17.7 billion in 2022. Some of these countries such as Indonesia and Brazil have evolved a rich global experience with Japan and Germany of working in third countries. Japan and Indonesia have worked together in several Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies to implement development projects. Similarly, Germany and Brazil have worked together in Mozambique in multiple development areas. Triangular Cooperation (TrC) has emerged as a powerful mechanism to bridge the divide between the Global North and the Global South. The beauty of the TrC is that it brings together a traditional donor from the Global North, a pivotal country from the Global South, and a partner country (often from the Global South), creating inclusive platforms for shared learning, mutual respect and the co-creation of solutions tailored to local needs. Comprehensive TrC data is still being compiled at the global stage. However, the efficacy and the success of the model has been well established. Some preliminary data collection suggests TrC to be between $670 million to $1.1 billion. Partnerships with results The TrC has shown that addressing physical infrastructure can advance social progress. For instance, improving regional energy grids expands digital connectivity and provides access to opportunities in education and health. In this context, in 2022, Germany and India signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on the implementation of TrC projects in third countries (during the sixth India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations), with a focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since then, TrC projects are being implemented in several countries which include Cameroon, Ghana and Malawi in Africa, and in Peru in Latin America. These offer clear examples as to how to rephase global development finance in a manner that ensures assured and efficacious outcomes in a cost-effective manner. Engagement in TrC was further emphasised during India's G-20 presidency, with expanded collaborations involving countries such as Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and France. These partnerships span a variety of sectors and modalities, from grant-based projects to investment-driven initiatives such as the Global Innovation Partnership (GIP) with the U.K. These efforts illustrate how leveraging technical, financial, and human resources can deliver results in third countries. Sachin Chaturvedi is Vice-Chancellor, Nalanda University, Rajgir, Bihar, and Director-General at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi-based think-tank. The views expressed are personal
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Parliament's Monsoon session from July 21 to August 21
The government on Wednesday (July 2, 2025) said the Monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 21 and continue till August 21, a week longer than planned earlier, signalling a heavy legislative agenda. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said President Droupadi Murmu has approved the government's proposal to convene the Session from July 21 to August 21. The Hon'ble President of India has approved the proposal of the Government to convene the Monsoon Session of Parliament from 21st July to 21st August, 2025. In view of the Independence Day celebrations, there will be no sittings on the 13th and 14th of August. — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) July 2, 2025 "In view of Independence Day celebrations, there will be no sittings on the 13th and 14th of August," Mr. Rijiju said in a post on X. Earlier, the session was to conclude on August 12, but now it has been extended by a week. The longer duration of the session comes amid the government's plans to bring in key legislations, including one to facilitate the entry of the private sector in the atomic energy domain. Also Read | Congress claims that Centre plans to convene special session of Parliament to mark 50th anniversary of the Emergency The government is planning to amend the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act and the Atomic Energy Act to implement the announcement in the Union Budget to open up the nuclear sector for private players. The opposition has been demanding a debate on Operation Sindoor — the strike on terror sites in Pakistan by the Indian armed forces in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The opposition parties have also been demanding answers from the government on US President Donald Trump's claims of mediation in the India-Pakistan conflict to avert a nuclear war. The government has rejected Mr. Trump's claims with Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling him, during a phone call last month, that India has never accepted mediation and would not ever accept it in future. PM Modi also told Mr. Trump that the decision to end military action came after Pakistan — facing heavy damage to nine of its key air bases— requested a ceasefire through existing military communication channels.
News18
2 hours ago
- News18
Parliament Monsoon Session From July 21 To August 21, First Meet Since Operation Sindoor
Last Updated: The Monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 21 and continue till August 21, the first parliamentary meeting since India's Operation Sindoor. The Monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 21 and continue till August 21, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday. This will be the first parliamentary meeting since India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in May. 'The Hon'ble President of India has approved the proposal of the Government to convene the Monsoon Session of Parliament from 21st July to 21st August, 2025. In view of the Independence Day celebrations, there will be no sittings on the 13th and 14th of August," Rijiju said in a post on X. The Hon'ble President of India has approved the proposal of the Government to convene the Monsoon Session of Parliament from 21st July to 21st August, 2025. In view of the Independence Day celebrations, there will be no sittings on the 13th and 14th of August. — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) July 2, 2025 Earlier, the session was to conclude on August 12, but now it has been extended by a week. The opposition has been demanding a special session to debate post-attack developments and is expected to raise key questions when the session begins. In the previous Budget Session, which began on January 32, the Central government passed key bills, including the Waqf Amendment Bill and the Finance Bill, 2025. The Budget Session was split into two parts and included a total of 26 sittings, 9 in the first half and 17 in the second.
