The government today came out with a product and services standardization strategy, which includes promoting brand India, developing quality norms for services sector and ease compliance burden for small and medium enterprises.
It is expected that all elements of the strategy would be undertaken and completed over a five-year period (2018-23).
“The rapid growth of the Indian economy, its size and emerging relevance in global trade, makes it essential to establish a robust quality ecosystem in India with a harmonised, dynamic and mature standards framework,” according to the strategy paper.
The strategy would focus on four areas – standards development, conformity assessment and accreditation, technical regulations, and awareness and education.
It intends to develop a comprehensive ecosystem for standards and quality development besides using standards for providing a level-playing field to domestic industry and enhancing the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in domestic and global markets.
Releasing the strategy, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said at a CII function that standards of goods and services would help promote exports and boost the domestic economy.
The implementation of the strategy would be monitored by a high-level committee with quarterly reviews.
As part of standards development, it has set eight goals including the convergence of all standards development activities in India, harmonizing standards with international norms, and development of services sector standards.
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