New norms for bicycle industry from Jan
Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 10
Come January, all bicycle manufacturers will have to mandatorily affix 10 BIS-certified reflectors. Currently, only the organised sector follows such guidelines. Besides ensuring safety of riders, the move will give fillip to the structured growth of the bicycle industry, especially in Ludhiana.
As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways data, 3,673 cyclists died in road accidents in 2018.
Industry size
- The industry size of the organised bicycle market is around 1.65 crore units but nearly 2 crore units are sold across the country annually
- Punjab accounts for 75% of the country’s total bicycle production and 92% of bicycle parts’ manufacturing
“On the directions of the Supreme Committee on Road Safety, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) made a set of 10 reflectors mandatory as per IS/ISO 6742-2:2015 on new adult bicycles from September 1, 2016. This direction, since then, has been implemented by the industry without any pan-India permanent mechanism for monitoring, control and penalising the violators and bridging the implementation gap. The matter was under consideration with the DPIIT since then,” said KB Thakur, secretary general, All India Cycle Manufacturers Association.
Now, the DPIIT has made quality reflectors mandatory on bicycles from January 1, 2021. Any person who contravenes the provisions of this order shall be punishable under the BIS Act.
