Compulsory ISI mark on footwear- Deadline extended to 1st July 2023

Government decided to extend the compulsory ISI marking on footwear from 1st July 2022 to 1st July 2023. This was done after various industrial and commercial bodies had requested the government to extend this deadline.

Government had earlier given a date of 1st July 2022 to implement ISI marking on large number of footwear products including protective footwear of various types and rubber hawai chappals.

Now it shall be mandatory for any importer, trader, manufacturer, or reseller to sell/stock/purchase of only ISI-marked rubber hawai chappals and protective footwear from 1st July 2023.

The government has had to extend this deadline as it seems the footwear brands/ factories are not ready for it. The footwear industry consists of small and medium organizations. These account for more than 75% footwear manufactured or traded in our country. Fashion or footwear has a shelf life of at least 6-9 months. Due to this longer period, it becomes even more difficult to implement a date as cutoff to ensure 100% implementation.

If you are an importer/manufacturer/ trader selling footwear including rubber hawai chappals or various types of protective footwear, you should be relieved with this extension. You are now allowed to trade your products for 1 more year without the ISI marks. This should help the new startups like NoStrain (www.nostrain.in) to align their supply chain as per the new quality standard.

For a consumer who buys rubber flip-flops or protective footwear, this would have no impact. The government’s motive behind this ISI mark implementation is to ensure only good quality products are available to the Indian customer. This delay in implementation means that you will have to check the quality of the footwear on your own! The government ISI marking shall be available only post 1st July 2023. Once implemented, customers can be rest assured when they see an ISI mark on the footwear.

Under this implementation, all imported good are covered as well. So if you are thinking of importing footwear, please ensure you get the factory passed as per the ISI norms. Both the factory and each and every product has to be ISI marked.

There are various agencies which have started giving ISI mark certification as per BIS standards. Try to use a BIS-approved lab only for this. Their cost and quotation vary so it is ideal to check all options before signing an agency for the BIS audit.

BIS certification or ISI certification will go a long way in ensuring quality footwear for every Indian!