New mobile app checks authenticity of ISI-marked and hallmarked products

The consumer affairs ministry has come out with a new mobile app using which consumers can check the authenticity of ISI-marked and hallmarked products and also lodge complaints. The mobile app 'BIS-Care', operational in Hindi and English languages, can be operated on any Android phone.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan also launched three portals of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on standardisation, conformity assessment and training, which consumers and stakeholders can login through www.manakonline.in.

To enforce the implementation of standards, the minister said BIS is strengthening its capacity of enforcement by implementation of electronic-BIS, an integrated portal covering all its functions - enlisting the services of outside agencies for factory and market surveillance, and development of mobile app-based and artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance methods.

It is important to ensure that consumers are aware of the standards and quality products and become a part of our efforts to eliminate the supply of sub-standard products, he added.

Paswan also mentioned that the BIS is developing a portal on 'Consumer Engagement', which will facilitate the online registration of consumer groups, submission of proposals and approval thereof, and complaint management.

The BIS is the national standards setting body in the country. So far, it has set 20,866 standards and mandatory standards for 358 products. The ISI mark is a standards-compliance mark for industrial products in India since 1955. Hallmark is quality certification for gold jewellery.