BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards)
India's national standards body that sets quality benchmarks and issues ISI marks for products, with mandatory certification required for certain food and consumer goods categories.
Full definition
BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) is India's national standards-setting body, operating under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016. BIS publishes Indian Standards (IS) for products, processes, and systems, and administers the ISI mark, the certification that a product meets the relevant IS specification. For distribution businesses, BIS matters because certain product categories require mandatory BIS certification before they can be sold in India.
In the food sector, mandatory BIS certification applies to packaged drinking water (IS 14543), mineral water (IS 13428), infant milk food (IS 1547), and milk powder (IS 1165), among others. A dairy distributor handling packaged water or milk powder must verify that every batch carries the ISI mark. Selling non-BIS-certified products in mandatory categories attracts penalties under the BIS Act, including fines up to Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment up to 2 years.
BIS also intersects with Legal Metrology and FSSAI in creating the complete compliance framework for packaged foods. Distribution platforms can flag non-BIS-certified SKUs during product onboarding, preventing compliance violations before the product enters the supply chain.
Real-world example
A packaged drinking water brand in Tamil Nadu must display the ISI mark (IS 14543) on every bottle; a distributor caught selling non-ISI water faces seizure of stock and a BIS Act prosecution.
Where it applies
Applicable industries
This term is relevant across the following SpireStock-supported industries.
How SpireStock handles it
Related SpireStock features
The concepts described above are implemented end-to-end in these product modules.
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