Competitiveness of any nation will depend on ability to build resilient, future ready manufacturing eco-systems: Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs
June 04, 2026
Need to focus on how India can become quality leader for the global markets in next 25 years: Secretary
e-Jagrati Portal a Big Success for Grievance Redressal for Consumers: Secretary Consumer Affairs
- Govt looking forward to mandating silver jewellery Hallmarking in near future: Sanjay Garg, DG, BIS
94% of Indian standards, wherever international standards exist, aligned to global standards: DG, BIS
NEW DELHI, 04 June 2026: Ms Nidhi Khare, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Govt of India today while addressing FICCI-BIS conference on ‘Quality Systems for Global Manufacturing Competitiveness’, said that quality is not merely a manufacturing objective but the foundation of consumer trust. “In an era, shaped by Industry 4.0, AI, advanced automation, smart supply chains and data driven production systems, the competitiveness of a nation will depend on the ability to build resilient and future ready manufacturing eco-systems,” she added.
Ms Khare further stated that without quality, no nation can sustain progress simply by inward looking. “For the next 25 years, we need to focus on how India can become the quality leader for the global markets. India stands at a transformative moment in its economic journey. Under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India 2.0, the country is steadily emerging as a preferred global manufacturing destination. Our manufacturing sector will play a pivotal role in achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047,” she added.
Highlighting the need to increase the testing centers in the country, Ms Khare noted that the government is working towards providing Ease of Doing Business along with decriminalizing various laws to promote private sector to set-up their own cluster-based testing infrastructure. “A globally competitive manufacturing eco-system has to be consumer centric eco-system. We have undertaken various steps to replace the obsolete testing methods with quicker and more accurate, scalable testing processes,” she emphasized.
Highlighting technology as a big enabler, Ms Khare mentioned that the e-Jagriti portal of Department of Consumer Affairs has been a great success, where affected parties can join the litigation on on-line mode. So much so, over 3500 cases of NRIs are getting resolved through this portal.
Mr Sanjay Garg, Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said that in today’s era of interconnected global economy, quality is not only a competitive advantage for the companies, but it is necessary for survival and growth. He further emphasized creating more consumer awareness regarding quality and standards. “For India, quality has strategic importance as we aspire to become a developed nation and a global manufacturing, innovation hub. Quality must become an integral part of our culture. As India advances in emerging sectors like AI, robotics, e-mobility, green hydrogen, smart manufacturing, digital public infrastructure; quality and standards will play even more important role,” he added.
Mr Garg stated that BIS has published over 24,000 standards out of which around 11,000 standards are product standards and rest includes testing and other standards. Further, about 1,500 product standards are under certification and this number is on increase. “Currently, more than 700 products are under quality control orders,” he added.
He also mentioned that, around 94 per cent of Indian standards, wherever international standards exist, are aligned to global standards and efforts are made to align more standards to global benchmarks.
Speaking about BIS Hallmarking Scheme, Mr Garg stated that Mandatory Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery was introduced in June 2021 and today there are over 2.2 lakh BIS Registered Jewellers and around 1,600 hallmarking centres across the country. “BIS Silver Hallmarking scheme is currently voluntary in nature. Recently in September 2025, we have introduced HUID in Silver Hallmarking to increase transparency and consumer trust. The government is also looking forward to mandate silver jewellery Hallmarking in near future,” he emphasized.
Mr Shyam Bang, Chair, FICCI Manufacturing Excellence Committee and Former Chairman, NABCB and Former ED, Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd said that the most significant change over the last decade has been the evolution of quality systems from compliance-driven frameworks, to enterprise-wide systems that influence strategy, operations, customer experience, risk management, and continuous improvement. “The manufacturing sector will grow only if it is globally competitive. There are several factors contributing to manufacturing excellence and quality systems is one of them,” he added.
Mr Anant Pande, Co-Chair, FICCI Manufacturing Excellence Committee and Chief Manufacturing Officer, Deepak Nitrite Ltd said global competitiveness is not only built on scale but on quality consistency, reliability, safety, innovation and trust. “Future of quality will not just depend on standards and systems but also on people, culture, technology and leadership,” he added.
Mr Jignesh Sharda, Co-Chair, FICCI Manufacturing Excellence Committee & Senior VP-QA, Sustainability & QBM, CEAT Ltd said, “As India strengthens its position in global value chains, quality can no longer be viewed merely as a compliance requirement. It must be embedded across the entire value chain—from design and manufacturing to people, processes, and technology.”
Ms Jyoti Vij, Director General, FICCI said, “There is increasing dependence on the organization’s ability to deliver consistency, reliability, compliance and continuous improvement going forward. Strong quality systems, therefore, are supported by globally benchmark standards and operational excellence and these are essential for building resilient, future ready and globally competitive manufacturing entities.”
During the event, ‘11th FICCI Awards for Excellence in Quality Systems’ were announced along with the release of Handbook.