India faces potential summer shortage of ACs, fridges due to BIS refusal of Chinese suppliers
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification of factories of manufacturers, including component makers, is compulsory under government rules. The appliance makers termed the decision “unexpected” and said it needed calibration for such import substitution, even as a BIS official said the move was aimed at promoting local manufacturing.
Quality control orders in place
Imports for critical components such as metal sheets, copper tubes, compressors, advanced electronics, and motors. The affected firms include large compressor manufacturers such as Avic Electromechanical (Shenyang), Sanyo Refrigeration Equipment Co Ltd, and Highly Group. The BIS certification of one of the plants of the latter firm has expired. Queries emailed to both companies remained unanswered till press time.
“It is mandatory to obtain BIS certification for some components of air conditioners and refrigerators to use the standard ISI mark. The bureau grants a BIS license to the manufacturer for the product that complies with Indian standards,” said the BIS official, who did not wish to be named.
The Chinese vendors were earlier certified by the BIS for a limited period in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and the certifications started to expire in the middle of 2024.
Capacity constraint
The chief executives of electronics companies said the government had indicated to the industry that it would give a few BIS approvals but only for components which had zero local production.
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