Lok Sabha Question No. 2075 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-12
Subject: QCOs Affecting MSMEs
Ministry: MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Asked by: Ms Iqra Choudhary, Shri Pushpendra Saroj, Adv Priya Saroj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2075 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2026

## QCOs AFFECTING MSMEs

2075. ADV PRIYA SAROJ: MS IQRA CHOUDHARY: SHRI PUSHPENDRA SAROJ:

Will the Minister of MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has reviewed enforcement of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)-dominated non-textile product categories in Uttar Pradesh during the year 2024-25;
- (b) the compliance burden borne by domestic MSMEs in the State in terms of BIS certification, testing  and  process  upgrades  and  the  equivalent  enforcement  action  taken  against  imported  or informally traded goods in the same categories;
- (c) the details of complaints received regarding the circulation of non-compliant goods after the issuance of QCO notifications, product category and district-wise in Uttar Pradesh;
- (d) the impact of uneven enforcement on price competitiveness, capacity utilisation and viability of compliant MSMEs; and
- (e) the measures taken to strengthen customs checks, market surveillance, testing infrastructure and inter-agency coordination to ensure uniform enforcement and a level playing field for MSMEs in Uttar Pradesh?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

(a) to (e): The Government of India through Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumers Affairs, Food & Pubic Distribution implements, phasewise, Quality Control Orders (QCOs) issued by the line Ministries with exemptions / relaxations for MSMEs , to ensure that Quality Control Orders (QCOs) do not disrupt domestic production.

For ease of compliance burden to MSMEs, some of the Financial and Technical relaxations being provided to MSMEs are as follows:

-  To support MSMEs, financial incentives are provided by BIS in annual minimum marking fee  with  concession  of  80%  (for  Micro  scale  units),  50%  (Small  scale  units)  and  20% (Medium scale units). An additional concession of 10% is also provided to units which are either located in north-east areas or women entrepreneur MSME units.
-  Erstwhile  mandatory  requirement  of  in-house  laboratory  has  been  relaxed  and  for  all manufacturers especially MSME units.

-  For  Domestic  Manufacturers,  Operations  of  product  certification  activities  and  processes involved across all the Branch Offices (BOs) in the country have been digitised. An Online platform 'Manak online' is already available for product certification activities right from the stage  of  submission  of  application  to  award  of  certification  including  all  communications, payment, queries through the portal itself. The renewal of certifications has also been made automatic without any human intervention. The manufacturer can simply submit the renewal application at his convenience and after the online submission, the renewal endorsement gets generated extending the validity of certification.
-  BIS issues product manuals as guidance documents for conformity assessment as per various Indian Standards. These product manuals also incorporate Scheme of Inspection and Testing (SIT)  specifying  controls  and  checks  to  be  exercised  by  the  manufacturer.  The  'Levels  of Control'  given  in  the  SIT  are  made  recommendatory  in  nature.  The  manufacturer  has  the choice to define their own control unit/batch/lot and their own Levels of Control and inform the BIS.
-  Targeted  awareness  and  training  programmes  namely  (i)  Manak  Samvaad  (ii)  Manak Manthan and (iii) Capsule courses for the industry at localised level with sector specific focus have  also  been  initiated  by  BIS  focusing  on  Standards,  measures  to  implement  them  and obtain BIS certification.

In addition; to strengthen the testing infrastructure, National Test House (NTH) is offering a blanket  discount  of  15%  on  testing  fees  to  all  registered  MSME  customers  across  all  NTH laboratories nationwide.

As informed by BIS, in the state of Uttar Pradesh total 24 search and seizure operations were carried  out  by  BIS  in  FY  2024-25.  Actions for prosecuting  the  violators in the  Hon'ble  Court  of Law have been initiated.

Over the last five years, 49 complaints have been received regarding substandard quality of BIS-marked  products  under  QCOs.  The  product-wise  and  district-wise  distribution  is  placed  at Annexure-A.

Regarding market surveillance, for BIS license holders, a Risk based approach focusing on higher non-compliance areas and mass consumption goods have been implemented.  For those noncompliant products, initial approach is to guide and handhold for compliance to Standards before initiation of any action as per the BIS Rules & Regulations framed there under. For non- BIS license holders, BIS investigates the instances of misuse of BIS standard mark or violations of QCOs by individuals and online marketing entities. The investigations include, search and seizure operations to detect violation and subsequent filing of legal case against the violators in Courts.

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## Annexure referred to in Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2075 for answer on 12.02.2026

## Product-wise

|   Sl. No | Product             |   Number of Complaints |
|----------|---------------------|------------------------|
|        1 | Cattle Feed         |                      3 |
|        2 | Gold                |                      6 |
|        3 | Water               |                     11 |
|        4 | Plywood             |                      4 |
|        5 | Mask                |                      1 |
|        6 | Concrete Pipes      |                      1 |
|        7 | Helmet              |                      4 |
|        9 | HDPE Pipe           |                      5 |
|       10 | Paper               |                      2 |
|       11 | Electrical products |                      8 |
|       12 | Water purifier      |                      1 |
|       13 | Wires &Cables       |                      2 |
|       14 | Paint               |                      1 |

## District-wise

|   Sl. No | District            |   Number of Complaints |
|----------|---------------------|------------------------|
|        1 | Kanpur              |                      4 |
|        2 | Banda               |                      1 |
|        3 | Amethi              |                      1 |
|        4 | Ghazipur            |                      1 |
|        5 | Lucknow             |                      2 |
|        6 | Gonda               |                      1 |
|        7 | Ballia              |                      1 |
|        8 | Mirzapur            |                      1 |
|        9 | Unnao               |                      1 |
|       10 | Prayagraj           |                      1 |
|       11 | Gautam Buddha Nagar |                     15 |
|       12 | Ghaziabad           |                      9 |
|       13 | Rampur              |                      1 |
|       14 | Sharanpur           |                      2 |
|       15 | Aligarh             |                      1 |
|       16 | Bareilly            |                      2 |
|       17 | Agra                |                      2 |
|       18 | Sikandrabad         |                      1 |
|       19 | Hathras             |                      2 |