Government Announces 50 Percent Rebate for Startups, Microbusinesses & Women Entrepreneurs

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 14 April 2021

The government has cut the annual marking charge for a new BIS license and qualification for micro-industry, startups, and women entrepreneurs by half. The announcement also mentioned that BIS services are now available for free to all and can be downloaded from the e-BIS standardisation port. 

A government quality standards-setting agency, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), working under the aegis of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, issues licenses with a standard mark to help identify the unit that produced the product at a particular location. 

"The government has given 50 percent rebate on (new) BIS certification of products for start-up, micro-industry, and women entrepreneurs," food and consumer affairs minister,"  Piyush Goyal tweeted.

An additional 10 percent rebate has been given to the existing license holders. This move is likely to provide a boost to the government’s 'Vocal for Local' campaign, he added. 

According to BIS director-general Pramod Kumar Tiwari, the rebate offered for the new license is expected to bring more companies under the ambit of licensing and certification regime. 

He also said, for existing license holders, a 20 percent rebate was already given and now an additional 10 percent will be given to them. 

The minimum annual marking fee for a new license differs from product to product. For instance, on water, the fee is about Rs 1,60,000, he added. 

Listing out the new initiatives taken by BIS to bring in efficiency and transparency, Tiwari said several steps have been taken to ease the compliance burden on the stakeholders. 

The entire process of certification-including granting and renewal of license-has been automated through Manak Online Portal of e-BIS, he added. 

BIS has set strict timelines for the disposal of applications and real-time basis monitoring of compliance, he noted. 

Tiwari said that more than 80 percent of products being brought under 'simplified procedure'. This means a license for the manufacturing of these products will be granted within one month. 

He also informed that as a result of these initiatives, it has been possible to dispose of more than 90 percent of applications within the prescribed time frame.