ISI and BIS

ISI Mark

In India, certain products carry a certification logo that says ‘ISI’.  People in India refer to this logo as “ISI Mark” and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) provides this product certification.  ISI stands for ‘Indian Standards Institution’, which is the institution that certifies that a product is of good quality and meets mandated specifications.   ISI mark is mandatory for certain products, for example,  kitchen appliances like pressure cookers, electrical appliances such as water heaters, wiring cables, milk powder, masonry cement, clinical thermometers etc.

The ISI mark provides the customer the guarantee of quality, safety and reliability.  Companies adhere to certification procedures and obtain licenses to use the ISI mark.  Certification application procedures are of 2 types – normal and standard.  Standard certification process is a quicker certification process applicable to certain products while normal certification process is an exhaustive process conducted by a BIS officer.  It is to be noted that BIS laboratories adhere to ISO/IEC Guide 17025:1999 quality standards.

Overseas applicants and Indian Importers are also granted license for use of ISI mark under certain product categories.

ISI mark is a certification mark for industrial products in India. The mark certifies that a product confirms to the Indian Standard, mentioned as IS:xxxx on top of the mark, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India. The ISI mark is by far the most recognized certification mark in the Indian subcontinent. The name ISI is an abbreviation of Indian Standards Institute, the former name of the Bureau of Indian Standards. The ISI mark is mandatory for certifying products to be sold in India, like many of the electrical appliances viz; switches, electric motors, wiring cables, heaters, kitchen appliances etc., and other products like portland cement, LPG valves, LPG cylinders, automotive tyres etc. But in the case of most other products it is voluntary.

Abuses – It is very common in India to find products with fake ISI marks, that is, affixing ISI marks on the product without actually getting certified. Fake ISI marks usually do not carry (i) the mandatory 7-digit license number(written as CM/L-xxxxxxx) required by BIS; and (ii)IS number on top of the ISI mark which signifies the number of the Indian Standard for the particular product. This is a punishable offense by the law, but the practice is common.

The ISI mark has become a symbol of trust and provides peace of mind for the people in India and it is a synonym for high quality.  Various ISI standards related to reliability are

Standard No	Year	Title	Amendments	Status
IS 10139	1982	Presentation of reliability, maintainability and availability predictions		Active
IS 10673	1983	Sampling Plans and Procedures for Inspection by Attributes for Electronic Items		Active
IS 11137 : PART 2	2012	Analysis Techniques for System Reliability – Part 2 : Procedures for Failure Mode and Effects (FEMA) and Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)		Active
IS 11743	1986	Guide on Human Safety in Design, Manufacture, Use and Maintenance of Electronic Equipment		Active
IS 13149	1991	Flickermeter : Functional and design specifications	1	Inactive
IS 15036	2001	Dependability Management – Application Guide Analysis Techniques for Dependablility – Guide on Methodology		Active
IS 15037	2002	Analysis Techniques for Dependability – Reliability Block Diagram Method		Active
IS 15038	2001	Reliability Growth – Statistical Test and Estimation Methods		Active
IS 15444 : Part 1	2012	Reliability Stress Screening – Part 1 : Repairable Items Manufactured in Lots		Active
IS 15444 : Part 2	2005	Reliability Stress Screening : Part 2 Electronic Component		Active
IS 15474	2004	Dependability Management – Application Guide – Life cycle costing		Active
IS 15613	2005	Software dependability through the software life-cycle process – Application Guide		Active
IS 1885 : Part 39	1999	Electrotechnical Vocabulary – Part 39 : Dependability of Electronic and Electrical Items		Active
IS 1885 : Part 64 : Sec 1	1987	Electrotechnical vocabulary: Part 64 Electromagnetic compatibility, Sec 1 General terms		Inactive
IS 1885 : Part 64 : Sec 2	1987	Electrotechnical vocabulary: Part 64 Electromagnetic compatibility, Sec 2 Specific terms		Inactive

BIS Mark

BIS provides another interesting quality certification – specifically for products such as gold jewels and gold coins.  This is popularly known as ‘BIS Gold Hallmark’.  Gold products with BIS Hallmark logo carry a premium over non-certified gold products.  Purity of gold is guaranteed with BIS Hallmark certification.  BIS is the designated agency by Indian Government for providing the BIS Hallmark certification.   The BIS Hallmarking Scheme is aligned to the International criteria on hallmarking (Vienna Convention 1972).

BIS acts as a third-party certification provider that guarantees quality, safety and reliability for various consumer products including gold.  People in India are very cautious to look for ISI mark and BIS Hallmark when purchasing  products.

The BIS hallmark is a hallmarking system for gold as well as silver jewellery sold in India certifying to the purity of the metal. It certifies that the piece of jewellery conforms to a set of standards laid by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the national standards organization of India. India is the second biggest market for gold and its jewellery.