New Delhi, Jan 6 (Mayank Nigam) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that 90 percent of jewellery that people are buying is hallmarked. Delivering the presidential address during the 77th Foundation Day of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) here , the Minister applauded the efforts of BIS in hallmarking jewellery and pointed out that mandatory hallmarking now covers 343 districts. Goyal said BIS should not just be an adopter of standards and added that standards should be made compatible to international standards wherever possible, for example, lifts or air filters or medical items.
Highlighting the efforts of the government on raising the quality standards, the Minister said that till 2014 there were only 14 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) of 106 products but now there are 156 QCOs of 672 products. “QCOs are being processed in nearly 2,500 more items which reflects our commitment towards quality by providing high standards goods and services,” he said. Talking about toys, he said 52 per cent decline in toy imports was reported from 2015 compared to 2023 because of QCOs that mandated quality above all. Goyal said after studying gap analysis, a comprehensive network of state-of-art modern labs have been set up to facilitate BIS and the industry. He said BIS recently agreed to invest Rs 40 crore to set up 21 labs for cotton testing. The Minister called upon the industry to come forward with areas for which testing is required.