A strange war over stainless steel water bottles

Stainless steel water bottles hardly make headlines but this time the sector is in news and there is a peculiar Chinese angle.

The All India Steel Bottles Association has urged the government to address what it claimed was a critical issue revolving around the Quality Control Orders (QCO) for stainless steel vacuuminsulated water bottles and portable stainless steel water bottles.

The developments run like this.

The Commerce Ministry’s introduction of the fair standard quality control order on July 14, 2023, is seen by many Indian producers of stainless steel vacuuminsulated water bottles and portable stainless steel water bottles as a positive step. The move, claim industry leaders, was a commendable step towards ensuring the production and sale of high-quality steel vacuum ware and non-vacuum ware bottles in the country.

So what happened. Once the ministry order came in, many domestic producers secured the necessary licences, and numerous joined the queue. All units - in short - were fully prepared to meet the demands of the Indian market by the specified standards, having committed substantial investments towards stockpiling raw materials.

This initiative had the potential to generate approximately 25,000 new jobs, predominantly in the MSME sector, including a substantial women employment base. The industry’s commitment to quality and adherence to BIS standards would have positioned India competitively on the global stage, with hopes of increased export volumes.

Then came the proverbial spanner in the wheel. The all-powerful import lobbyist used its considerable influence to ask the government to grant a six-month extension on the BIS implementation. On paper, it looked like a harmless appeal. But there was a catch. If granted, this extension would place domestic manufacturers in a dilemma, forcing them to choose the low grade noncompliant quality products to compete with low-quality Chinese bottles. So the fight stands between high-quality domestic products and lowly Chinese imports. The import lobby, it seems, did not care for the Prime Minister’s Make In India initiative.

The All India Steel Bottles Association, representing the voice of the industry, has argued back and asked the ministry not to play into the hands of the import lobby which wanted to fill its coffers with cheap supplies from next door China. Worse, such imports would not generate employment but fill the markets with lowly products from across the border. If imports are allowed, the livelihoods of over 30% of the workforce, predominantly women, stand at risk of, impacting their employment opportunities. It needs to be mentioned here that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has set stringent quality standards across various industries, generating significant