Q.01

What does the ISI mark mean?

The ISI mark is India's product certification mark, which BIS calls the "Standard Mark". The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) says that seeing it on a product "is an assurance of conformity of the product to the requirements of Indian Standard Specifications" (BIS Product Certification Overview). "ISI" refers to the Indian Standards Institution. That body set up India's first certification marks scheme under a 1952 Act, launched it in 1955-56, and handed its functions to BIS when BIS was established on 1 April 1987 (BIS, Origin of BIS).

How it works

  • Licence: Under Scheme-I, BIS grants a manufacturer a licence to use the mark on a product. It first checks the manufacturer's manufacturing and testing capabilities, then tests the product against the relevant Indian Standard (BIS overview).
  • Ongoing checks: While the licence is in force, BIS visits the licensee's premises and tests samples taken from the factory and the open market (BIS overview).
  • Voluntary unless an order makes it compulsory: BIS describes the scheme as "voluntary in nature". However, the Government of India has made Indian Standards compulsory for many products through Quality Control Orders (QCOs). It does this for reasons such as public interest, health, environmental safety, preventing unfair trade practices and national security (BIS overview).

What a QCO requires The QCOs published in the Gazette of India use the same wording. The listed goods "shall conform to the corresponding Indian Standard" and "shall bear the Standard Mark under a licence from the Bureau as per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of the Bureau of Indian Standards (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018". BIS is named as the certifying and enforcing authority, and anyone who breaches the order "shall be punishable" under the BIS Act [1][2]. The textile QCOs I checked say the same and add that the order "shall not apply to goods or article meant for export" [3][4]. Some orders give later start dates for some businesses. The Ropes and Cordages (Quality Control) Order, 2024 came into force on 1 April 2025, but on 1 July 2025 for small and micro enterprises (domestic production only) [4].

Approach: I searched the BIS Scheme-I Quality Control Orders for chemicals and for textiles, footwear and toys, and opened the BIS website for what the mark means and where it came from.

Q.02

Which products must carry it?

Any product listed in a Quality Control Order (QCO) under BIS Scheme-I must carry the ISI mark. BIS's Scheme-I list (last updated 21 October 2026) runs from serial 1 to 639 across more than 100 product groups (BIS Scheme-I list). The main areas are:

  • Construction and metals: cement, about 150 steel and iron products, pipes, plywood, boards, glass, fasteners.
  • Electrical: cables, switches, meters, transformers, motors, air conditioners, fridges, fans, washing machines, and household and commercial electrical appliances in general.
  • Gas equipment: LPG cylinders, valves and stoves.
  • Vehicles: tyres, wheel rims, helmets.
  • Consumer and medical items: feeding bottles, clinical thermometers, cookware, toys, footwear.
  • Chemicals, polymers and textiles: a set of chemicals and polymers, plus technical textiles (geo, protective, medical, agro, ropes).

The full list is in the panel document, product by product, with each product's legal basis and current status.

Things that change the answer

  • Many chemical and polymer orders have been revoked. Of the 60 chemical and polymer products in the QCO dataset, 34 were rescinded or withdrawn between July and December 2025. Examples:
    • Methanol, withdrawn 23 July 2025 [5]
    • Toluene, rescinded 1 December 2025 [6]
    • Polyester yarns and fibres, polyethylene, PVC, ABS and the fatty acids (BIS list)
  • 24 of those 60 are still in force. Examples are caustic soda [7], acetone [8] and hydrogen peroxide [9].
  • Two more are listed but temporarily suspended:
    • Linear alkyl benzene, from 25 June 2026 [10]
    • n-butyl acrylate, from 9 July 2026 [11]
  • Other orders withdrawn in late 2025 or January 2026: aluminium, copper and nickel ingots and powder; refined zinc, lead and tin; viscose staple fibre; H acid and K acid; flux-cored solder wire.
  • Food products are no longer compulsory. Milk powders, infant foods and packaged drinking water and mineral water are marked "De-notified from compulsory BIS certification".
  • Textiles, footwear and toys are still covered. The dataset holds 101 product-standard rows: 65 textiles, 29 footwear and 7 toys. Examples:
    • Sanitary napkins [12]
    • Rubber hawai chappals [13]
    • Toy safety under IS 9873 Part 1 [14]
  • Not every entry comes from a QCO. BIS names other laws for some products: gas cylinders (Gas Cylinders Rules), feeding bottles (the 1992 Infant Milk Substitutes Act), RO purifiers (Environment (Protection) rules) and cattle feed (an FSSAI direction).
  • Exemptions: the textile QCOs do not apply to goods made for export [3]. BIS also lists 2026 orders on exemptions for imports and purchases (S.O. 775(E) and 776(E)) and a Transition Facilitation (Quality Control) Order, 2026. I did not open those orders.

Approach: I searched the BIS Scheme-I QCO datasets (chemicals and polymers; textiles, footwear and toys) and the Ministry of Textiles technical-textile QCOs, and read the whole BIS Scheme-I list for the other sectors and current status. BIS's separate Scheme-II (Registration) and Scheme-X lists are not covered here.

Q.03

How do I check a BIS licence?

You check a BIS licence with the licence number printed under the ISI mark. Enter that CM/L number in BIS's free BIS Care app, under "Verify Licence Details", or on BIS's Manak Online portal. BIS's own recall notices tell the public to "Use 'BIS CARE' App to check the authenticity of Standard Mark products" [15][16].

Steps

  1. Find the licence number on the product. BIS requires the licence number to be shown on the product next to the Standard Mark, "preferably below the Standard Mark as 'CM/L-XXXXXXXXXX'". The mark also carries the IS number of the standard the product is certified to (BIS Standard Mark).
  2. Look it up in BIS Care. The app lets you "Check the authenticity of the Product with ISI mark by using 'Verify Licence Details'". It is linked to Manak Online, works in 12 languages, and is on Android and iOS. You can also register a complaint about product quality in the app (BIS Apps).
  3. Or use Manak Online on the web. BIS links to Manak Online for checking licence details in a browser (BIS Apps).
  4. Compare the record with the product. Check that the licence holder, product and IS number in the BIS record match what is on the label.
  5. Check the licence is in force. BIS's FAQ says it may cancel a licence if the licence conditions are broken (Regulation 11 of the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018). It may also suspend one under paragraph 11 of Scheme-I and Regulation 10 (BIS Product Certification FAQ). So a licence number that exists is not enough on its own; confirm its current status.

Check for recalls as well. BIS publishes public alerts that name the licensee, CM/L number, brand, IS number and batch. For example, licence 6328973 (Neroth Agro Foods, packaged drinking water, IS 14543: 2016, brands "Dew fresh, Hydro") was told to recall batch 1065 by an order dated 30/12/2021 [15]. If you give me a CM/L number, I can search the BIS recall register for it.

Approach: I searched the BIS public product-recall register and opened BIS's pages on its apps, the Standard Mark and the product-certification FAQ. BIS's licence database is not in the datasets I can search, so the live licence lookup has to be run in BIS Care or Manak Online.

Q.04