Lok Sabha Question No. 3680 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: BIS Mandatory for Leather & Electrical Goods
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Su Thirunavukkarasar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3680. TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 17 TH  MARCH, 2021.

## BIS MANDATORY FOR LEATHER & ELECTRICAL GOODS

## 3680.  SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: वाणिज्य  एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  made  Bureau  of  Indian  Standards  (BIS) mandatory for leather and electrical equipments to curb cheaper imports;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any steps are being taken to boost domestic manufacturing of these products under 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission' and to reduce dependency on imports;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य  एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री (श्री सोम प्रकाश) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

- (a) & (b): Yes sir. BIS standards for certain leather and electrical products have been made compulsory by means of Quality Control Orders (QCOs). Quality Control Orders issued for Leather and Electrical equipment are enclosed at Annexure I.
- (c) & (d): A number of steps have been taken to boost domestic manufacturing of  these  products  under  'Atmanirbhar  Bharat  Mission'  and  to  reduce dependency on imports. Some of these steps taken by the Government are enclosed at Annexure II.
- (e): Doesn't arise.

*******

## ANNEXURE-I

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3680 FOR ANSWER ON 17.03.2021.

|   S. No. | Quality Control Orders (QCOs) notified                                                                                      |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Footwear made from Leather and other materials (Quality Control) Order, 2020                                                |
|        2 | Personal Protective Equipment - Footwear (Quality Control) Order, 2020                                                      |
|        3 | Electrical Equipment (Quality Control) Order, 2020                                                                          |
|        4 | Electrical Transformer (Quality Control) Order, 2015                                                                        |
|        5 | Air Conditioner and its related Parts, Hermetic Compressor and Temperature Sensing Controls (Quality Control) Orders, 2019. |
|        6 | Refrigerating Appliances (Quality Control) Order, 2020                                                                      |
|        7 | Bureau of Indian Standards Kitchen Appliances (Quality Control) Order, 2018                                                 |
|        8 | Bureau of Indian Standards Domestic Water Heater for Use with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Quality Control) Order, 2018         |

*******

## ANNEXURE-II

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (c) & (d) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3680 FOR ANSWER ON 17.03.2021.

## Steps taken by the Government

1.  Increase  in  Basic  Custom  Duty  (BCD)  on  wet  blue  chrome  tanned  leather, crust leather, finished leather of all kinds, including splits and sides from nil to 10%. (Announced in Union Budget 2021)
2. Increase in BCD on imports of footwear from 25% to 35%
3.  Increase in BCD on import of parts of footwear from 15% to 20%
4.  Increase in BCD on Compressors of Refrigerators and Air Conditioners from 12.5% to 15%.
5.  Amendment in import Policy of Air Conditioners with refrigerants from 'Free' to 'Prohibited'.
6.  Leather and footwear and air-conditioners manufacturing have been identified as focus sub-sectors to boost the growth of the sub-sectors in a holistic and coordinated manner.
7. Production-Linked  Incentive  (PLI)  Scheme: To  provide  a  major  boost  to manufacturing,  the  government  has  launched  Production-Linked  Incentive (PLI) Scheme for 13 sectors with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore over the next five years. It includes White Goods (Air Conditioners and LED Lights) with an outlay of Rs 6238 crore.
8. Public  Procurement  Order: In  order  to  provide  purchase  preference  to domestic  manufacturers,  Public  procurement  (Preference  to  Make  in  India) Order on Industrial Steam generators/ Boilers dated 29 September 2020 has been issued.
9. Industrial Information System (IIS): To address the issue of land availability and  identify  the  preferred  location  for  investment  of  potential  investors,  the Government  has  developed  an  Industrial  Information  System  (IIS).  This system  provides  a  GIS-enabled  database  of  industrial  area  s  including clusters, parks, nodes, zones, etc. across the country. 3500 industrial clusters covering  5lakh  hectares  from  all  over  the  country  have  been  mapped  on Industrial Information System (IIS) along with net land area availability.
10. One District One Product (ODOP) is an initiative towards realizing the true potential  of  a  district,  fuel  economic  growth  and  generate  employment  and rural entrepreneurship, taking us to the goal of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Leather is one of the identified products under the Scheme.

## 11.  Measures for businesses including MSMEs

- 11.1  Rs 3 lakh crore Emergency Working Capital Facility for Businesses, including MSMEs.
- 11.2 Rs 20,000 crore Subordinate Debt for Stressed MSMEs.
- 11.3 Rs 50,000 crore Equity infusion for MSMEs through Fund of Funds.

## 11.4 New definition of MSME :

The  definition  of  micro  manufacturing  and  services  unit  increased  to Rs. 1 crore of investment and Rs. 5 crore of turnover. The limit of small unit  increased  to  Rs.  10  crore  of  investment  and  Rs  50  crore  of turnover. Similarly, the limit of a medium unit increased to Rs 20 crore of  investment  and  Rs.  100  crore  of  turnover.The  limit  for  medium manufacturing and service units was further increased to Rs. 50 crore of investment and Rs. 250 crore of turnover. It has also been decided that the turnover with respect to exports will not be counted in the limits of  turnover  for  any  category  of  MSME  units  whether  micro,  small  or medium.

- 11.5   Global tenders has been disallowed upto Rs 200 crore, giving preference to domestic suppliers and boost to startups.
- 11.6 Reliefs  through  Employee  Provident  Fund  (EPF) :  Under  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP), payment of 12% of employer and 12%  employee  contributions  was  made  into  EPF  accounts  of  eligible establishments. This was provided earlier for salary months of March, April and May 2020. This support was extended for another 3 months to salary months of June, July and August 2020. This provisioned assistance of Rs 4,860 crore to 3.67 lakh establishments, for 72.22 lakh employees.
11. 7    EPF  contribution  reduced  for  Business  &  Workers  for  3  months -Under this package the statutory rate of EPF contribution of both employer and  employee  has  been  reduced  to  10  percent  of  basic  wages  and dearness  allowances  from  existing  rate  of  12  percent  for  all  class  of establishments covered under the Employees' Provident Funds& Miscellaneous  Provisions  Act,  1952.  The  reduction  in  statutory  rate  of contributions from 12% to 10% for wage months May, 2020, June, 2020 and July, 2020 were notified vide dated May 18, 2020. This scheme was applicable for workers who were not eligible for 24% EPF support under PM  Garib  Kalyan  Package  and  its  extension.Reduction  in  rate  of  EPF contributions from 12% to 10% of basic wages andDearness allowances wasprovisioned to benefit both 4.3 crore employees/members and employers of 6.5 lakhs establishments to tide over the immediate liquidity crisis during Pandemic situation.

*****