New Delhi, May 1 (KNN) Setting up of standards has been an ongoing process for the Indian industries in the recent past. This process has seen acceleration also because of the fact that Indian products compete to comply with the International standards for finding a space in the export market.

Highlighting the challenges around the issue of compliance and setting up of standards, Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister said that so far the Indian manufacturers and producers try to comply with the standards set by the foreign industries. The need of the hour is that India should be setting standards for the world.

Nirmala also pointed out that while setting standards, the concerned organizations are required to take into consideration that they are dealing with a set of MSMEs who can afford a lot of things and another set of MSMEs for whom standard compliance in terms of technological upgradation might not be feasible.

Emphasizing on ‘push notification’ based technology, the Minister said that  often it happens that a decision taken in adapting a new parameter for standards doesn’t reach the manufacturer, therefore moving ahead from laptop based technology to a smartphone based pushed notification  is important.

Nirmala also spoke about the need to be inclusive in setting standards. Standards must not be spell out as homogeneity. Citing example of mango in this regards, the minister said that sometime back due to a notification by the exporters’ body abroad, many varieties of Indian mango couldn’t be exported as they standard set by them mandated the mangoes to be of a certain dimension.

She appealed for a wider approach in setting standards.

The Minister was speaking at the 4^th National Standards Conclave organized by Commerce Ministry and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) under the theme “Evolving a Comprehensive National Strategy for Standards Sectoral and Regional Inclusiveness” in New Delhi earlier today. (KNN/ DA)