Govt invites bids: Study to ascertain reach of counterfeit electronic goods in domestic market

It added that the study to evaluate the availability of fake electronic products in the country would be conducted in eighteen state capitals and eighteen Tier-2/3 cities of other states.

The government has sought bids from agencies to conduct a study about the availability of fake, duplicate and counterfeit electronic goods in the domestic market and the impact of the Compulsory Registration Order, through which the sale of these products is restricted in the absence of a registration with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
“While the order applies equally to domestic and overseas produced products for sale into Indian markets, it is understood that Indian markets are also being fed with fake/duplicate/counterfeit electronic products either by misuse of the registration mark or by not complying to the order at all,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in its Expression of Interest.

It added that the study to evaluate the availability of fake electronic products in the country would be conducted in eighteen state capitals and eighteen Tier-2/3 cities of other states.
“Survey may be scattered to cosmopolitan cities, rural areas & direct Sellers. However, samples be taken for products from a spectrum of MNCs, domestic manufacturers in large scale, MSME traders and market,” the bid document said.
Under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement for Compulsory Registration) Order, 50 product categories such as mobile phones, laptops, microwaves, point-of-sale terminals, LED lamps, smart-card readers, inverters, power adapters, etc are included for which a self-declaration about compliance with the relevant standards is compulsory. As per the order, the sale of the notified electronic goods is restricted by the regulation to only safe goods duly registered by the BIS and displaying a standard mark to that effect.
The Expression of Interest document, which was floated earlier this week, has called for parameters such as missing BIS awarded registration number, standard mark, mobile phones without IMEI number, products without bills & traceability of supplier, missing model or serial number, significant difference in prices, etc to be considered while conducting the research.
In the study, for each of 50 product categories, three models or brands are to be included for each of the 36 locations, and the agency conducting the survey will submit its report to the IT ministry within 45 days of getting the tender.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/govt-invites-bids-study-to-ascertain-reach-of-counterfeit-electronic-goods-in-domestic-market-4442411/