India's Electrical Equipment Export Set To Get A Big Boost As CPRI Bags ISO/IEC 17065 Accreditation

The export footprint for electrical equipment manufactured in India is set to rise, with an important bottleneck being addressed

The Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), an autonomous Society under the Union Ministry of Power, has been granted the prestigious accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Certifying Bodies (NABCB) - for certification of electrical equipment as per ISO/IEC 17065.

This accreditation means that manufacturers who have obtained test Certificates from CPRI would be able to export their products without requirement of retesting or authentication by any other body outside the country, the Ministry of Power said in a statement on Thursday (7 April).

According to the ministry, this would provide a significant boost to the already robust indigenous development and manufacturing of electrical products in India and thereby strengthen ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

Electrical products manufactured in India are exported to several countries. An issue which exporters had flagged with the Power Ministry, redressal of which would further enhance the competitiveness of this industry, was regarding some countries not accepting the test report issued by CPRI due to lack of ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation.

Accordingly, Power Ministry directed CPRI to obtain this accreditation urgently, the statement said.

CPRI bagged certification for its test reports covering Transformers and Reactors, Cables and cable accessories, Capacitors, Switchgear and Control gear, Transmission line accessories and Energy meters.

With CPRI now having this accreditation, Indian exporters do not need to send their products abroad for testing. This is expected to encourage more manufacturing and exports of electrical equipment from India, the ministry said.

The ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation demonstrates to the market and regulators globally that the agencies have met the requirements for operating certification schemes in a competent, consistent and impartial manner.

The purpose of ISO/IEC 17065 is for conformity assessment or the certification of products, processes and/or services.

The Test Report issued by CPRI Test Laboratory will be authenticated by an independent Certifying Division within CPRI which would issue the test certificate, according to the ministry.