Fridge makers shut the door on BIS

NEW DELHI: In June, Whirlpool and Godrej filed a suit against LG Electronics, alleging it was overstating its frost-free refrigerator capacity by 11-14 per cent, far higher than the 3 per cent variation allowed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, the erstwhile ISI).
Apart from getting its products tested by an independent lab, LG said the case was baseless as BIS standards for frost-frees simply do not exist.Then, in July, LG filed a counter-case against Whirlpool alleging it was misleading customers by claiming its frost-frees follow BIS standards. In the absence of such standards, the claim was definitely up for contention.
The cases go on. While shifting market shares may be at the heart of such corporate warfare, it’s clearly the Wild West out there. No set standards are followed, making it easy for firms to tweak details to impress the customer.
Trouble is, with companies following their own standards and testing products in their own labs, customers may be getting short-changed. The inconsistencies of the kind the two ongoing cases have brought out may well be rampant.
For instance, in refrigerators, as in a vast majority of other products, no company uses the recognised BIS certification for quality assurance. Internationally, such certifications are mandatorily stamped on products, assuring adherence to norms regarding volume, cooling time, energy consumption etc.
Interestingly, most firms — including MNCs — operating in India mark their products abroad. Samsung conforms to TUV/SEMKO, BPL to JIS and ISO, Videocon to Marco and Whirlpool to AHAM, IEC, SASO, UL and AUS/NZ, depending on the market they export to.
Quiz firms about India and they point out that BIS standards do not exist for the upmarket frost-free models. What about adhering to a global marking for India? Amit Verma of
Whirlpool answers: “The standards used in India are a mix-and-match of those followed abroad and so we cannot cite a particular certification.� Others say the same.
However, sans certification, the customer stands to lose. ML Chopra, director & head (mechanical engineering), BIS explains: “In the absence of a uniform mark, manufacturers can cherry-pick certifications to justify varying standards. Also, refrigerators needs an Indian standard, given our unique climatic conditions and power situation.�
Interestingly, the excuse of non-existence of standards does not hold in the case of the traditional direct cool refrigerators. The BIS IS1476 for them has existed since 1959 and was updated in year 2000. Yet, no company uses this today. The irony is: Kelvinator, Voltas, Zenith and many others carried the ISI mark in the 1980s.
All companies talk along the lines LH Bhatia of BPL does: “BPL uses BIS standards as reference wherever applicable. However, we have not tried to get the BIS certification as it is not mandatory.� BIS, incidentally, is mandatory only for products that could be a health hazard (gas cylinders, packaged water).
Add to that the BIS allegation that companies have refused to cooperate in formulating norms for frost-free refrigerators. Obviously, it suits all players to play the game by their own rules.
The solution: customer pressure alone could force companies to go in for the BIS mark. In gas stoves, for instance, no company sells without the mark as customers ask for it by name. Time the customer started asking for value for the money she is spending.