Lok Sabha Question No. 2804 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-06
Subject: Testing Capacity of Laboratories
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri Arun Bharti

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2804

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2025

## TESTING CAPACITY OF LABORATORIES

2804.  SHRI ARUN BHARTI:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of Government laboratories that have received financial support under the scheme for upgrading testing infrastructure and creating new facilities;
- (b) the specific critical areas in which new facilities have been created and the corresponding financial allocation made for each area under the scheme;
- (c) the impact of the scheme on the testing capacity and quality of services offered by laboratories such as National  Physical  Laboratory  (NPL),  National  Test  House  (NTH)  and  Food  Safety  and  Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); and
- (d) future  plans  to  extend  this  scheme  to  other  laboratories  or  for  further  expansion  including  the budgetary allocation and the timeline for the next phase?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L.VERMA)

(a) to (d) : 12 Proposals worth Rs. 425.64 Crores received from various government departments have been approved  for providing financial support to 54 Laboratories in the scheme  for upgrading  testing infrastructure  and  creating  new  facilities.  After  the  Financial  support  for  the  laboratories  is  approved  by Screening Committee, Department of Consumer Affairs and duly ratified by the Governing Council of BIS, the responsibility for creation/upgradation of the testing facilities rests with the respective laboratories.

The specific critical areas in which new facilities have been targeted and the corresponding financial allocation  made  for  each  proposal  under  the  scheme  is  given  at Annexure .  This  scheme  by  extending financial  support  to  laboratories,  contribute  significantly  to  augment  the  testing  infrastructure  in  important sectors including emerging areas such as organic food testing.

The eligibility of the ongoing scheme covers the laboratories owned or fully or partially funded by the Central Government, institutions of higher education and private organizations running laboratories for R&D purposes or on not-for-profit basis proposals as received from the respective laboratories are submitted for consideration of the Screening Committee. Financial support is extended to the laboratories as per the extant guidelines based on the approval of proposals by the Screening Committee, Department of Consumer Affairs and duly ratified by the Governing Council of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

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## ANNEXURE

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2804 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 06/08/2025 REGARDING TESTING CAPACITY OF LABORATORIES

| S No.   | Proposal for Strengthening                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Approximate Cost                                                               |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.      | Creation of switch gear testing facility at NTH Mumbai                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Rs. 5 Crore                                                                    |
| 2.      | Strengthening of Cotton fibre testing infrastructure at Laboratories of Textiles Committee (11 Labs) , Power loom Service Centres and Cotton Corporation of India (2 Labs)                                                                                                                                                                                           | Rs 38.72 Crores.                                                               |
| 3.      | Strengthening of the FSSAI's notified Food Testing Laboratories for Organic Food Testing including 12 FSSAI Notified State Food Laboratory (12 Labs) and 12 FSSAI Notified Labs working under other Government Organizations (12 Labs)                                                                                                                               | Rs 116.25 Crores                                                               |
| 4.      | Advancement of Metrology for Reliability, Inspection and Testing (AMRIT) submitted by National Physical Laboratory                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   | Rs 37.49 Crores                                                                |
| 5.      | Establishment of Robotic Mass Comparators with other equipment at RRSLs (5 Labs) for calibration of E0 and E1 Class weights.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | Rs. 100 Crore for all 5 RRSLs.                                                 |
| 6.      | Creation of Integrated Test Facility for Power Transmission & Distribution Sectors including Short Circuit Test Facility of Transformers at NTH Jaipur                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Rs. 50.11 Crore                                                                |
| 7.      | Creation of test facility for testing of Aerospace components at National Test House, Bengaluru                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Rs 5.03 Crores.                                                                |
| 8.      | Creation of test facility for Solar Photo Voltaic Modules Upto 1000W at National Test House, Ghaziabad                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Rs 40 Crores.                                                                  |
| 9.      | Creation of short circuit test facility of 120 KA, 525V at National Test House, Chennai                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | Rs 10.0229 Crores                                                              |
| 10.     | Augmentation of Facility for testing of HT Cables at National Test House, Ghaziabad                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | Rs. 3.1425 Crores.                                                             |
| 11.     | Establishment/ augmentation of Analytical Laboratory for nutritional quality evaluation of Makhana at NRG for Makhan at ICAR-National Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanqa                                                                                                                                                                                         | Rs. 0.375 Crores (Rs. 37.50 Lakhs)                                             |
| 12.     | Support to FSSAI notified Labs for Testing of Organic Food product i. National Food Laboratory - Raxaul (Extension centre NFL- Kolkata), Bihar ii. Quality Evaluation Laboratory, Spices Board, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh iii. Quality Evaluation Laboratory, Spices Board, Thane, Maharashtra iv. Quality Evaluation Laboratory, Spices Board, Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu | Rs. 19.5 Crores for all 4 labs 3.75 Crores 5.25 Crores 5.25 Crores 5.25 Crores |
| Total   | Total                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | Rs 425.6404 Crores                                                             |

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