The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been entrusted with the task of product standardization by formulating standards for various products including textiles and clothing products. Currently, over 1,400 standards are available for the textile industry, while BIS is in the process of revising the existing standards in consultation with the stakeholders and releasing the new draft standards for numerous products seeking comments. The Ministry of Textiles has taken a decision to issue the Quality Control Order (QCO) for all the textiles and clothing products to protect the interests of the consumers and also curb low quality imports and thereby protect the interests of the indigenous textiles and clothing product manufacturers. The Ministry of Textiles is also in the process of issuing more than 100 QCOs for technical textiles products and several QCOs have been issued for MMF textiles especially fibres and yarns including the polyester staple fibre and viscose staple fibre.
The Ministry of Textiles issued Quality Control Order for the Viscose Staple Fibre vide its notification S.O.6143(E) dated 29th December 2022 to be implemented from 29th January 2023, giving a time limit of 30 days for obtaining BIS quality certification for the manufacturer of VSF from any country to export to India. Normally, it takes three to six months for BIS to process the application, make inspections to the concerned country and issue the BIS certification. The thirty days time limit has caused difficulties for all the users of imported VSF in the country resulting in panic situation. Hence, The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has represented to extend the time limit for VSF Quality Control Order (VSF QCO) so as to enable the BIS to complete the formalities and issue the certification.
In a Press Release issued here today, Mr.Ravi Sam, Chairman, SIMA, has thanked the Hon’ble Minister of Textiles, Shri. Piyush Goyal for convening the stakeholders meeting of VSF on 27th January 2023, deliberating the need for extension of time limit for VSF QCO and the practical difficulties faced by the VSF value chain. He has thanked the Hon’ble Minister for acceding to the request of the industry and extending the period by another 60 days and also directing the BIS to expedite the processing formalities, completing industry visits in a time bound manner and issue the BIS certification to the manufacturers located in different countries, who supply Viscose Staple Fibre to India.
SIMA Chairman has stated that India is importing Viscose Rayon Staple Fibre from over 20 countries including Indonesia, Austria, Hongkong, Singapore, China, Thailand, UK, Sri Lanka, Greece and Germany. The industry had imported 60.76 million kgs during April 2021 to March 2022 and 77.07 million kgs during April to November 2022. Mr.Ravi Sam has pointed out that adequate time is required for BIS and the VSF manufacturing companies in different countries to complete the formalities and issue the BIS certification.
Mr.Ravi Sam has stated that several hundreds of VSF textiles and clothing manufacturers in the country though predominantly use indigenous VSF fibre, they heavily depend on certain specified VSF fibres to meet the requirements of nominated business. He has said that QCO time extension has enabled these manufacturers to get the imports without any difficulties that might land the country till March. SIMA Chief has advised all the suppliers and manufacturers to take necessary steps and process the BIS applications on a fast track and obtain the certificates at the earliest.
