“Bureau of Indian Standards (the Bureau) is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, conformity assessment and quality assurance of goods, articles, processes, systems and services and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” The Bureau has been providing traceability and tangibility benefits to the national economy in a number of ways – providing safe reliable quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; promoting exports and imports substitute; control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification and testing.

As a means of Capacity Building of the industry, the Bureau is conducting a variety of training programmes in the fields of Standardization, Conformity assessment and testing through its own training institute, the National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS) located at Noida and through network of Regional & Branch Offices throughout the country.

Lack of technical expertise of the Quality Control Personnel has been pointed out as one of the constraints faced by the Industry while obtaining/operating BIS licenses. This gap is increasing with many new products coming under mandatory BIS certification.

In order to bridge this gap, National Institute of Training for Standardization (NITS), the training arm of the Bureau has been conducting short term Capsule Courses (2-days courses) for Quality control personnel. The courses are currently being conducted offline for the Quality Control Personnel for specific products like Toys, Packaged Drinking Water, Cement & related products, Electric Cables & Conductors, Protective Helmets, Plywood & related Products, Pumps, helmets, LPG Cylinders, Gas Stoves, etc. based on the concentration of industry in the area where the course is being conducted.However, keeping in view the requirement of Quality Control Personnel in all parts of the country and realising that it is not possible to cover all targeted personnel through offline mode, the Bureau is planning to impart training through the e-learning/distance mode. In pursuance of its objectives,the Bureau has procured a Learning Management System (LMS) for its training portal and developing e-learning content for the product specific Capsule Course Modules for 25 products initially such as currently under the established Indian Standards like Footwear, Toys, Packaged Drinking Water, Cement & related products, Electric Cables & Conductors, Plywood & related Products, Air Conditioners, Pumps, helmets, Gas Stoves, etc. These e-learning mode Capsule Course programmes will further contribute to the national capacity building leading to enhanced Quality Ecosystem in the country.