Joshi highlights Role of Standards in India's Clean Energy Transition
Published: Oct 15, 2026
By TIOLCorplaws News Service
NEW DELHI, OCT 15, 2026: IN a major push toward strengthening national quality infrastructure and accelerating India's clean energy transition, Bureau of Indian Standards unveiled BIS Silver Refinery Scheme, New Indian Standards on emerging technologies & clean energy mobility and a standardization roadmap for sustainable agriculture and manufacturing on the occasion of World Standards Day 2026 at the national event hosted in New Delhi.
Delivering the presidential address to standardization professionals, academicians, industry representatives and senior officials; Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and New & Renewable Energy, and Education; emphasized India's commitment to quality: "Under the vision of PM Narendra Modi ji, our journey towards Viksit Bharat is driven by a single mantra: Quality, Quality, and only Quality." Speaking on this year's theme, 'Shared Vision for a Better World: SDG 7 (Clean & Affordable Energy)', Joshi highlighted the role of Indian Standards developed by BIS in shaping India's energy transformation.
Congratulating BIS on its ongoing efforts to expand the quality ecosystem in the country, B. L. Verma, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Social Justice & Empowerment, underscored the fundamental impact of standards in improving quality of life of every citizen. Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, emphasized the consumer-centric aspect of standardization. She underscored the need to expand standard development into newer domains, ensuring a balanced ecosystem that simultaneously drives industrial growth and protects consumer welfare.
Commending the landmark achievements of BIS in the recent years, Nidhi Khare, IAS, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, underscored the pivotal role of standardization in establishing uniformity, consistency, and process institutionalization across public procurement and regulation. She stressed that effective consumer protection must be preventive driven by robust testing, digital enforcement, and conformity assessments.
Welcoming the delegates, Director General of BIS, Sanjay Garg, said, "Standards are vital enablers of innovation, technology development, and industrial strength." He announced that BIS is among the world's first national standardization bodies to make standards' development and its access completely digital for all stakeholders. He also highlighted major reforms at BIS supporting Ease of Doing Business.
Launch of BIS Silver Refinery Scheme
The BIS certification scheme for silver refineries and mints, extends structured purity assurance and hallmarking to silver bullion and coins across India and establishes a national framework for silver purity modelled after the existing Gold Refinery Scheme.
Following the gazette notification of Amendment No. 1 to Indian Standard IS 2112:2025 (Silver and Silver Alloys, Jewellery/Artefacts - Fineness and Marking), fine silver bullion and coins of three purity grades: 999.9, 999.5, and 999.0 parts per thousand (ppt), have been included in scope of the standard, with provision for hallmarking by BIS licensed refineries and mints.
Under the scheme, BIS will grant license to qualified silver refineries and mints after assessing their technical competence, refining processes, and testing infrastructure. Licensed facilities will be authorized to apply the official BIS hallmark to silver bullion and coins conforming to the prescribed requirements.
For assured authenticity and traceability across the precious metals supply chain, hallmarked silver bullion and coins will bear a standardized BIS mark comprising of the BIS Standard Mark accompanied by the word SILVER, purity grade (999.9, 999.5, or 999.0), the manufacturer's identification mark and a unique serial number for batch traceability.
The standard prescribes rigorous sampling and testing protocols for refineries and mints to determine the silver content in bullion and coins. These include advance analytical methods such as Gravimetric testing (IS 2113), ICP-OES difference method (IS 16900 / ISO 15096) and Spark-OES difference methods (IS 19563 / ISO 18214).
https://youtu.be/SrF8K82bTow
Launch of BIS Digital Standard Reader - BIS Digital Standard Reader is a web-based platform that converts XML-formatted Indian Standards into interactive SMART standards. Designed to enhance accessibility, the tool enables users to search technical content, navigate hyperlinked cross-references, access an in-built dictionary, and translate text into Indian languages. Accessible across mobile devices, tablets, and desktops, the platform also features an analytics dashboard to track usage trends and establishes an AI-ready repository for future digital services. This will make Indian Standards much user friendly and easy for adaption.
Release of New Indian Standards - On this occasion BIS announced the rollout of 7 new Indian Standards across diverse sectors, including textiles, clean mobility, therapeutic healthcare, robotics, and building materials.
Emerging Technologies & Clean Energy Mobility -
1. Cables for Electric Vehicle Charging Systems (IS 19967:2026): Defines construction, insulation, thermal management, and testing protocols for flexible charging cables (up to 1,100 V AC / 1,500 V DC) operating under demanding outdoor conditions across AC Modes 1-3 and DC Mode 4 systems
2. Pedal Assisted Bicycles / EPACs (IS 19891:2026): Provides standards for design, electrical circuit safety, short-circuit/overheat protection, and anti-tampering rules for Electrically Power Assisted Cycles with continuous rated power up to 0.25 kW and speed cut-off at 25 km/h
3. Wearable Service Robots - Lower Limb (IS 17192 Part-6:2026): Adopts international testing criteria (identical to ISO FDIS 18646-6:2025) using anthropomorphic test dummies to evaluate the motion, stability, and performance of lower-limb assistive and rehabilitation robotics.
Healthcare-
1. Paediatric Panchakarma Droni (IS 19960:2026): assuring safety, structural stability, non-toxic coatings, and oil-resistance specifications for Paediatric Panchakarma treatment tables (Droni) for Infant (birth to 2 years) and Child (2 to 10 years)
2. Therapeutic Footwear Specification (IS 19956:2026): Assuring clinical and mechanical safety criteria for footwear designed for diabetic and neuropathic patients. It covers pressure relief, internal depth, rocker geometry, moisture management, and antifungal properties to mitigate foot ulceration risks.
Industrial Materials & Building Products
1. Flexible Plywood Specification (IS 19952:2026): Provides standard classifications, glue bond strength grades (moisture-resistant, BWR, and BWP), and formaldehyde emission limits for curved wood-based panels used in interior design and architecture
2. PVC Coated Fibreglass Insect Screen (IS 19825:2026): Outlines requirements for mesh strength, UV degradation resistance, flame propagation resistance, and structural durability for fibreglass insect screening utilized in residential and commercial spaces.
Release of National Roadmaps for Standardization in the field of Sustainable Agriculture & Manufacturing
On this occasion, a strategic roadmap developed by Environment and Ecology Division Council of BIS to establish Indian Standards for the sustainable agricultural sector was released. The document addresses challenges including climate change, resource depletion, land degradation, post-harvest losses, and inefficient nutrient use. It spans 15 categories, covering soil management, water use, agricultural inputs, emerging technologies, climate services, and socio-economic support. Aligned with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), the roadmap outlines standard formulation across three timelines: short-term (1 year), mid-term (2-3 years), and long-term (4-5 years).
In another roadmap released yesterday, for Sustainable Manufacturing, low-carbon technologies, resource efficiency, circular economy practices, sustainable product design, digitalisation, sustainability reporting and supply-chain management have been identified as key areas for standardisation.
Award of Best Technical Committees for Development of Standards
On the Occasion of World Standards Day, BIS presents the Best Technical Committee Award to recognise the outstanding contributions, technical expertise, and collaborative efforts of experts in advancing the development of Indian Standards in the respective sectors. This year 16 distinguished technical committees have been conferred with this prestigious award.
Addition of 6 New Academic Institutions into Standardization Framework -
In the presence of Union Minister of State B L Verma and Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, BIS onboarded IIT Ropar, NIT Manipur, NIT Meghalaya, Assam Textiles Institute, and IIT Dharwad, and RGIPT (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology) as MoU partner institution with an objective to integrate Indian standards into academic curricula and transform students into standards-ready professionals. As on date BIS has 98 number of MoU partner institutions working for integration of standards in academic curricula, collaborative R&D projects for standardization as well as offering internship in BIS and industry exposure to the students.
Handbook on Good Practices for Safety in the Laboratory
BIS has published a comprehensive booklet, 'Good Practices for Safety in Laboratory,' drawing on key standards (including IS 4209, IS 4906, and IS 9457). The reference handbook covers hazard identification, protective equipment, contamination control, and safe waste disposal for chemical, radiochemical, and microbiological facilities.
Release of Educational Comic books -
On this occasion, two new comic books on Indian Standards for Toys and Hallmarking were released by BIS to foster awareness among children about the importance of standards, quality and consumer protection from an early age. With the addition of these titles, BIS has expanded its collection to 13 comic books, strengthening its efforts to promote consumer awareness through print and digital platforms.
On the occasion of World Standards Day 2026, global standardization bodies ISO, IEC and ITU jointly released a video message sharing how shared standards build system-trust, accelerate innovation, and support sustainable trade. As India's national standardization body, BIS participates in over 600 technical committees across ISO and IEC to align international standard development with India's strategic interests.
