Spurious brands of LED lamps pose threat to consumer safety, govt revenue

MUMBAI: The LED bulbs or downlights you are buying may not be saving the power and thus billing for you much to your expectations. On the contrary they may pose threat to your electrical circuits. A Nielsen study conducted across four major Indian cities New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad suggested that 76% of LED Bulb brands and 71% of LED downlight brands across 200 electrical retail outlets were found to be non-compliant with consumer safety standards, as prescribed and mandated for lighting products by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.In Mumbai, a larger number of LED brands had the name and address of manufacturer on the casing but no BIS mark. These spurious products pose a serious safety hazard for consumers besides causing significant loss in tax revenues for the Government of India. The survey was conducted in July this year and Mumbai fared the best among all the cities surveyed on most counts. The Indian Lighting industry unanimously recommends a need for stronger enforcement for compliance to these safety standards prescribed and mandated by the BIS and the ministry. It not only threatened organized and compliant market players but also to the government’s key programs like Make in India and Demonetization. Rakesh Zutshi, president of Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers’ Association and MD of Halonix Technologies said “It is unlikely that the manufacturers of spurious LED Bulbs and Downlighters pay any GST to the government, thereby causing a huge loss to the exchequer”.Sumit Joshi, vice-chairman and managing director, Philips Lighting India said, “Given the government’s push towards adoption of LEDs, it is important that it acts against these spurious products for consumer safety and protecting government revenues.”Sunil Sikka, ex-president ELCOMA and Havells India Limited said, “Despite these non-compliant products openly flouting government regulations, they are being openly sold in marketplaces.”Raju Bista, vice-president, ELCOMA and managing director of Surya Roshni Ltd observed that these non-compliant products would also impact energy efficiency in the country.