Effective region India Product category Industrial products | Effective since 1955 | |
Expansion Indian standard institute(Bureau of Indian Standards since Jan 1 1987) Certifying agency Legal status Mandatory for 90 products (Feb 2013), voluntary for others | ||
ISI mark is a certification mark for industrial products in India. The mark certifies that a product conforms 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.
Wrong use of ISI mark
It is very common in India to find products with unreal 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 uncommon.