New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is conducting market surveys and assessments to develop a framework for silver hallmarking, said Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Director General Sanjay Garg on Thursday.

Speaking with ANI on the sidelines of a FICCI event, Garg said the exercise is currently at the study stage and no timeline has been fixed for the implementation of mandatory silver hallmarking.

'The work is in progress, we are doing some surveys in the market and assessing what kind of hallmarking infrastructure would be required, what will be the scale and what will be the parameters, what exemptions will be given. We are studying all this. It may take some time, but it is in the process,' Garg said when asked about the rollout of mandatory silver hallmarking.

He said BIS is evaluating infrastructure requirements, operational scale, parameters and possible exemptions before finalising any framework.

Garg said BIS is focused on strengthening India's quality ecosystem through collaboration among industry, academia and regulators, along with greater consumer awareness.

Emphasising the importance of quality for India's growth ambitions, he said, 'As we are aspiring to be a global manufacturing hub and the third largest economy in the world and it cannot happen without quality.'

He added that quality should extend across all sectors of the economy.

'Quality not only in products, quality in systems, quality in service sector, quality in infrastructure, quality in everything,' he said.

According to Garg, building a culture of quality consciousness is essential for achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat.

'So we have to have a quality consciousness and culture in the country if we have to become a Viksit Bharat,' he said.

On sustainability initiatives, Garg said BIS is incorporating environmental considerations into new and revised standards.

He also said the organisation is examining the possibility of introducing a separate identification mark for green products to help consumers identify sustainable products, while noting that any such proposal would be assessed within the provisions of the BIS Act governing quality certification.

Garg said all these initiatives remain under active consideration as BIS continues work on standardisation and quality frameworks in the country. (ANI)