New BIS licence: Government announces 50 pc rebate for startups, micro-industry, women entrepreneurs

The government on Tuesday slashed the annual marking fee to get a new BIS licence and certification by 50 percent for micro-industry, startups, and women entrepreneurs.

It also said the services of BIS are now made available free of cost to everyone and can be downloaded from the standardisation port of e-BIS.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), a government quality standards-setting body, issues licences with a standard mark to help identify the unit, which has manufactured the product at a specific location.

"The government has given 50 percent rebate on (new) BIS certification of products for startup, micro-industry, and women entrepreneurs," Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.

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An additional 10 percent rebate has been given to the existing licence holders, which will give a boost to the government 'Vocal for Local' campaign, he added.

According to BIS Director-General Pramod Kumar Tiwari, the rebate offered for the new licence is expected to bring more companies under the ambit of licensing and certification regime.

For existing license holders, a 20 percent rebate was already given and now an additional 10 percent will be given to them, he said in a virtual press conference.

The minimum annual marking fee for a new licence differs from product to product. For instance, on water, the fee is about Rs 1,60,000, he added.

Listing out the new initiatives taken by BIS to bring in efficiency and transparency, Tiwari said several steps have been taken to ease the compliance burden on the stakeholders.

The entire process of certification -- including granting and renewal of licence -- has been automated through Manak Online Portal of e-BIS, he added.

BIS has set strict timelines for the disposal of applications and real-time basis monitoring of compliance, he noted.

Tiwari said that more than 80 percent of products being brought under 'simplified procedure'. This means a licence for the manufacturing of these products will be granted within a period of one month.

He informed that as a result of these initiatives, it has been possible to dispose of more than 90 percent of applications within the prescribed time frame.