| ISI | |
| Expansion: | Indian Standards Institution |
| Standards Org: | Bureau of Indian Standards (formerly Indian Standards Institution) |
| Region: | India |
| Founded: | 1950 |
| Products: | Industrial products |
| Legalstatus: | Mandatory for 90 products, advisory for others |
The ISI mark is a standards-compliance mark for industrial products in India since 1950. The mark certifies that a product conforms to an Indian standard (IS) developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India.[1] The ISI is an initialism of Indian Standards Institution, the name of the national standards body until 1 January 1978, when it was renamed to the Bureau of the Indian Standards. The ISI mark is mandatory for certain products to be sold in India, such as electrical appliances[2] including switches, electric motors, wiring cables, heaters, kitchen appliances, etc., and other products like Portland cement, LPG valves, LPG cylinders, automotive tyres,[3] etc. In the case of most other products, ISI marks are optional.[4] [5]
It is very common in India to find products with fake ISI marks. That is, industrial traders cheat customers by affixing ISI marks on the product without actually being certified.[6] Fake ISI marks usually do not carry
(i) the mandatory 7 or 8-digit license number (of the format CM/L-xxxxxxx, where x signifies a digit from the license number) required by BIS.
(ii) the IS number on top of the ISI mark which signifies the Indian standard a particular product is in compliance with.[7]
For example, if a kitchen grinder's box has a small ISI mark on it with the ISI code of the appliance's wire, one can conclude that the wire is BIS-certified but the appliance itself is not an BIS-certified product. Counterfeiting ISI marks is a punishable offence by the law, but enforcement is uncommon.[8]