ISSDA Lauds Government Move to Introduce Quality Standards in Stainless Steel Flat Products

ISSDA (Indian Stainless Steel Development Association) welcomes government’s initiative to move towards ‘Zero defect & Zero effect’ regime for manufacturing in the stainless steel sector. The proposal for introduction of mandatory standards in the stainless steel flat product segment by the Ministry of Steel echoes the right sentiment of the Prime Minister’s vision of making a ‘Zero defect & Zero effect’ manufacturing base in India. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has time and again stressed on the need to raise quality standards in the country in order to make Indian products globally competitive and to promote ‘Make in India’.

The government has already moved towards standardisation regime. The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved introduction of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Bill, 2015. The new bill seeks to replace the existing Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986 with an aim to bring in more products under the mandatory standard regime.  Under this new proposed Act, articles, processes, goods, services and systems will be brought under the mandatory standardization regime in order to ensure quality products to consumers. “BIS certified stainless steel products would build the confidence of the common consumer which are purchased or procured commonly by organized consumers as well as common man”, said N.C Mathur, President-ISSDA.

The proposed draft Quality Control Order would include the following standards: IS 5522, IS 15997, IS 6911. The standards proposed under the draft quality control order do not cover 200 series stainless Cr- MN steel stainless steel (having less than 1% Ni content) and the overwhelming bulk of cookware and utensils manufactured in this country are made from this Cr- Mn stainless steel. The manufacturers of utensils or kitchenware will not get affected in any way as the onus of compliance with the Quality Control Order lies on the manufacturer of stainless steel Flat Product (Coil, Sheets, strips etc) manufacturers and not the utensil manufacturer.

BIS already has certain standard for utensils and cookware. However, these standards are not mandatory and therefore utensils manufacturers will not get affected in any way whatsoever as they are free to procure any grade (including grades containing less than 1 % Ni) which are outside purview of these standards. It is also noteworthy that since there is no BIS standard for stainless steel grade containing less than 1% Ni, the question of applicability of this order to such grades does not arise.

ISSDA would like to state that proposed quality control order is a WTO compliant move which does not in any way restrict the access of domestic consumers to raw material, whether from domestic or imported sources. This Quality Control Order is non-discriminatory as it will be applicable to domestic and overseas suppliers. Rather than seeking to curb imports, this Quality Control Order ensures that customers of Stainless Steel in India are fully assured of quality product in form of BIS marking on raw material whether from domestic sources or overseas sources. The domestic stainless steel industry is already complying with various international product standards like ASTM, JIS EN etc. as well as various process standards in the form of various certifications like ISO. Therefore, compliance with this order would certainly not present a challenge for domestic stainless steel industry and nor would it lead to an increase in the price of stainless steel. Ultimately, all consumers of stainless steel will stand to benefit as they would get the benefit of BIS marked stainless steel at competitive prices.

There are a number of other countries like Vietnam, Thailand who already have mandatory Quality Control on Steel/Stainless Steel.  

ISSDA reiterates that Quality Control order on stainless steel is in the best of public interest and such norms should be introduced at the earliest.