Courtesy: ISI product certification scheme
The ISI mark is a standards-compliance mark for industrial products in India since 1955. 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. The ISI mark is by far the most recognised certification mark in the Indian subcontinent. The ISI is an initialism of Indian Standards Institution, the name of the national standards body until 1 January 1987, when it was renamed to the Bureau of Indian Standards. The ISI mark is mandatory for certain products to be sold in India, such as many of the electrical appliances like switches, electric motors, wiring cables, heaters, kitchen appliances, etc., and other products like Portland cement, LPG valves, LPG cylinders, automotive tyres, etc. In the case of most other products, ISI marks are optional.
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 certified. Fake ISI marks usually do not carry(i) the mandatory 7-digit licence number (of the format CM/L-xxxxxxx, where x signifies a digit from the licence number) required by BIS; and(ii) the IS number on top of the ISI mark which signifies the Indian standard a particular product is in compliance with.
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