In a Nielsen study conducted across New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad, 76 per cent of LED bulb brands and 71 per cent of LED downlighter 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 the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
According to Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers' Association (ELCOMA), the study shows Delhi leads the all-India list with the highest number of BIS violations. "These spurious products pose a serious safety hazard for consumers besides causing significant loss in tax revenues for the Government of India, as they are illegally manufactured and sold," said ELCOMA.
The findings from the key markets surveyed showed that 48 per cent of LED bulb brands had no mention of manufacturer's address and 31 per cent of brands did not have a manufacturer's name. These brands, therefore, violate Indian legal metrology regulations and are manufactured illegally. Similarly, the study conducted on LED downlighters showed that of the total sample size, 45 per cent brands did not have a manufacturer's name and 51 per cent brands had no mention of the manufacturer's address.
According to this study, almost three quarters (73 per cent) of LED bulb brands surveyed in the national capital did not conform to BIS standards (absence of the BIS mark) and the same was the case when it came to LED downlighters. On a national scale, Delhi ranks as the city with the highest degree of violation of BIS norms in the country as the illustration below demonstrates.
According to ELCOMA, the total LED market in India is worth Rs 10,000 crore. LED bulbs and downlighters, being widely used across homes, offices, and workspaces, constitute 50 per cent of the overall market.
ELCOMA President and Halonix Technologies Private Limited Managing Director Rakesh Zutshi said, "The large number of non-compliant manufacturers of LED bulbs and downlighters threaten fair competition in the LED lighting market, especially for those companies that are compliant to all mandatory consumer safety standards. It is very unlikely that the manufacturers of these spurious LED bulbs and downlighters pay any GST (goods and services tax) to the government, thereby causing a huge loss to the exchequer."
Commenting on the subject, Sumit Joshi, vice-chairman and managing director, Philips Lighting India, said, "As per an ELCOMA study, the Indian LED Lighting market has grown from Rs 500 crore in 2010 to Rs 10,000 crore today and constitutes over 45 per cent of the overall Rs 22,000-crore lighting industry in India, comprising all categories like GLS, FTL, CFL and other lamps. Given the government's push towards adoption of LEDs and their general consumer popularity, LED lighting will constitute a majority share of the total lighting market in the next few years. Given this scenario, it is important for the government to act against these spurious and non-branded products for safeguarding consumer safety and protecting their revenues against these companies.”
Former ELCOMA president Sunil Sikka, who represents Havells India Limited, also said, "The market share of spurious and non-compliant LED products is steadily increasing, much to the concern of compliant manufacturers in the country. This is also a huge concern for the average consumer because 76 per cent of LED brands and 71 per cent of downlight brands do not adhere to consumer safety standards as set by the Government of India. Despite these non-compliant products openly flouting government regulations, they are being openly sold in marketplaces around the country. This has led to an increase of unsafe and illegal products being used in households and offices by Indian consumers, endangering many."
ELCOMA Vice-President and Surya Roshni Managing Director Raju Bista said these non-compliant products would also impact energy efficiency in the country.
Under the Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All (UJALA) scheme, the government is targeting replacing 770 million incandescent bulbs across India with LEDs. To this end, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has also stated that star ratings for LED bulbs are to be mandatory to ensure only quality products are available to consumers. "However, the growing number of non-compliant and illegal products is worrisome as the non-compliant manufacturers undertake various cost-cutting mechanisms, making them less energy efficient. As these manufacturers already flout industry regulations and BIS standards with no action being taken against them, it is extremely likely that they will be non-compliant with energy efficiency parameters as well."
ELCOMA recommended that a stronger enforcement for compliance with these safety standards should be done. "The spurious and non-branded LED products are a serious threat to not just the organised and compliant market players but also to the government's key programmes like Make in India and demonetisation. In addition, they also impact government's tax revenue collections, which would have otherwise been contributed by the formal sector, defeat investment objectives," it said in a press statement.
City-wise nature of violations
Source: The Nielsen study was conducted across 200 retail electrical goods outlets across 4 major Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad. The survey was conducted in July 2017.