If you are importing LED lights, luminaires, drivers or most consumer electronics into India, the product itself needs to be registered with BIS before it arrives — and it is the Chinese factory, not you, that has to hold the registration.
A range of electronic and electrical products sold in India fall under the Bureau of Indian Standards' Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS). LED lighting products are among them. The requirement sits on the product and the manufacturer, which has an important consequence for you: the Chinese factory must be BIS-registered for that specific model, tested in a BIS-recognised laboratory, and it must mark the goods with its registration number.
You cannot register the factory's product yourself after the goods land. This is the single most common reason a first lighting consignment gets stuck.
Goods requiring registration that arrive without it are liable to be held at customs. Depending on the case, the outcome is re-export at your cost, or destruction — and either way you have paid the factory. There is no realistic path where an unregistered consignment simply gets cleared with a penalty and released.
This is why we treat BIS as a shortlisting filter rather than a document to chase later. A factory that is not registered is not a candidate, however good the price is.
| Product type | Typical additional requirement |
|---|---|
| LED lights, luminaires, drivers, control gear | BIS CRS registration |
| Products with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth | WPC / ETA approval in addition to BIS |
| Anything contacting food | FSSAI considerations |
| Toys | BIS certification under a separate scheme |
The right time to establish which of these applies is before the sample is approved. We check it as part of shortlisting so that compliance is not a surprise at the end.
Do not assume so. The requirement attaches to the product category rather than the order size. Ask us to check your specific product before you place even a sample order — a stuck trial shipment costs far more than the check.
Only if they produce the certificate with the matching model number before you pay the balance. 'We will arrange it' is not the same as holding it, and registration is not something that can be completed while a container is in transit.
No. It is granted per model. A factory can be registered for one product and not for the one you are ordering, which is why the model number on the certificate matters more than the factory name.
Yes — that is how we shortlist for lighting and electricals. Suppliers already exporting to India generally hold current registrations, and that alone eliminates most of this risk.
Have a question about this? Send it to us — we answer with your actual case, not a brochure.
