High standard of products must for access to global market

 The Dollar Business Bureau  Indian manufacturing industry must set high standard of their products to enhance competitiveness in the international market, a top government official said on Thursday. According to Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher, raising the standards of domestic goods and ensuring technical regulations will also help the country in curbing imports of sub-standard products. “A new architecture of global trade is evolving and it is important for us to elevate ourselves in terms of standards and technical regulations for goods and services. Standards play a very significant role in enhancing competitiveness in the global market,” Kher was quoted as having said in a media report. Speaking at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Delhi, Kher said that focusing on the quality improvement will help traders not only in the domestic market but also in the global trade. “It will help you (industry) to access markets, which are highly discerning,” he said. While pointing out that the domestic and global markets have become more quality conscious, he said that the lack of competitiveness of many Indian products has led to continuous fall in the country's overall exports. Setting up of high standard norms are no more a luxury but it is a necessity, he said, adding that the country needs to set up an institution for this purpose. Pointing towards challenges in this direction, Kher said, “One of the challenges is to get the last stakeholder understand the importance of standards and technical regulations. We need to work harder on a few sectors.” To facilitate exports, the official said that the government is also trying to explore ways to include more Indian products in free trade agreements with various countries. “In new free trade agreements, we are trying to re-orient them to see how we can pick up those product areas and work towards technical ecosystem,” he added. Consumer Affairs Secretary Keshav Desiraju who was present at the event also emphasised on the need to enhance quality of goods and services in the country. Adil Zainulbhai, chairman of the Quality Council of India (QCI) said that apart from increasing exports, quality and standards of products will also help the country in improving the quality of life of people.    

May 21, 2015 | 6:04 pm IST.