Three-fourths of light emitting diode (LED) bulbs sold in the country’s Rs 100 billion market were found non-compliant with the government’s consumer safety standards, market research firm Nielsen said in a survey on Monday.
The report, based on a study of 200 electrical retail outlets across major cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and New Delhi in July, found the products to be spurious and riskier, with the highest number of violations in the national capital.
The report highlighted that 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 programs like Make in India. In August, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had ordered LED makers to register their products with BIS for safety checks, in a market where smuggling of Chinese products is rampant. India is tightening quality controls for consumer and capital goods, officials say, a move that follows calls to curb cheap imports from China amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The findings showed that 48 per cent of LED bulb brands had no mention of manufacturer’s address and 31 per cent did not have a manufacturer’s name. These spurious products pose a serious safety hazard for consumers besides causing significant loss in tax revenues for the government as they are illegally manufactured and sold, said Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers Association (ELCOMA).
