What is the difference between BIS, TEC and WPC?

The three bodies operate on distinct scopes that an electronic product can trigger in parallel. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) handles product safety through the Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS) and, separately, the ISI Mark for goods covered by older quality control orders. TEC (Telecommunication Engineering Centre) handles telecom equipment under the Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipment (MTCTE) program. WPC (Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing) handles radio: Equipment Type Approval (ETA) per device and SACFA siting clearance for installations. A connected cellular product typically needs BIS CRS, TEC MTCTE and WPC ETA at once.

What is the Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS) under BIS?

The CRS is the registration regime notified by MeitY for electronics and IT equipment safety. It rests on testing in a BIS-accredited laboratory against the relevant IS standard (the Indian transposition of IEC 60950 / IEC 62368 and adjacent series), followed by online registration on the BIS portal. Coverage has been extended by successive MeitY notifications and now spans IT equipment, mobile handsets, displays, LED lighting, power adapters, set-top boxes, wireless headphones and several other categories. The exact list and the applicable IS standards are published by BIS and updated when MeitY issues a new notification.

How does MTCTE differ from CRS?

CRS addresses electrical safety and adjacent product attributes for electronics; MTCTE addresses telecom conformity. A wireless router, for instance, falls under CRS for its mains supply and IT-equipment safety, and under MTCTE for its telecom function (interfaces, signalling, performance against TEC GR and IR). The two procedures run in parallel through different portals (BIS portal for CRS, MTCTE portal for telecoms) and demand different test reports issued by accredited Indian laboratories.

When is WPC Equipment Type Approval (ETA) required?

WPC ETA is required for any product that incorporates a radio transmitter operating in delicensed bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, sub-GHz ISM, NFC, UWB, BLE). It is a per-device approval issued by WPC under the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933. Licensed bands (cellular, broadcast) follow a separate licensing path with the DoT. ETA is distinct from SACFA, which clears the installation of a transmitting station at a given site and is mostly relevant to infrastructure deployments rather than mass-market consumer devices.

Is a local Indian representative mandatory?

Yes for a foreign manufacturer addressing the Indian market through BIS CRS. The manufacturer must appoint an Authorised Indian Representative (AIR), legally established in India, who files the CRS application, holds the registration in BIS records and bears legal responsibility for compliance and post-market obligations. Without an AIR, no CRS registration can be obtained. MTCTE and WPC ETA filings follow similar logic: an Indian filer (subsidiary, importer or appointed agent) is required.

Can a CB-Scheme report be reused for BIS CRS?

Not directly. BIS CRS requires test reports issued by a BIS-accredited laboratory located in India, against the applicable IS standard. Many IS standards are technically equivalent to IEC 60950, IEC 62368-1 or adjacent series, so an existing CB-Scheme report serves as a useful technical reference for the Indian lab and can shorten the campaign, but it does not substitute for the Indian test report itself. This is one of the structural differences between CRS and certification regimes such as SASO that accept CB-Scheme directly through approved CABs.

What labelling is required on a BIS-registered product?

BIS-registered products must display the BIS registration number (R-XXXXXXXXXX format) together with the standard mark applicable to the scheme. Information aimed at the end user, including safety warnings and regulatory mentions, must be intelligible in English, and Hindi is added by industry practice for consumer goods. The packaging, the user manual and the product label itself are all in scope. CRS labelling is distinct from the older ISI Mark, which applies to a different list of products under separate quality control orders.

What are the most frequent pitfalls?

Four recur. First, missing one of the three tracks (typically WPC ETA forgotten for an embedded radio module). Second, mis-classifying a product between CRS and MTCTE, leading to a single dossier where two are needed. Third, appointing the AIR too late, which blocks the CRS filing and pushes the launch by several weeks. Fourth, attempting to reuse a CB-Scheme report as a final test report for CRS, which the BIS portal will reject because the testing must occur in a BIS-accredited Indian laboratory.

India: BIS (CRS), TEC (MTCTE) and WPC (ETA) certifications

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 27 May 2026 ~15 min read

Guide · BIS / TEC / WPC, India

Placing a connected electronic product on the Indian market triggers three regulators whose perimeters do not overlap and which a manufacturer cannot collapse into a single dossier. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) handles product safety through the Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS) and, for older categories, the ISI Mark. The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) handles telecom equipment under the Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipment (MTCTE) program rolled out in phases since 2017. The Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC) of the Department of Telecommunications handles radio under the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, with Equipment Type Approval (ETA) per device and SACFA siting clearance for installations. This page presents the institutional map, the scope of each track, the role of the Authorised Indian Representative (AIR), the link with IEC and IS standards, and a step-by-step path from prototype to combined Indian approval.

Institutional map

Four authorities shape the regulatory perimeter of an electronic product entering India. Each acts on a distinct legal basis and issues its own decision; none substitutes for the others.

Actor	Scope	Type of decision
BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards)	Product safety, ISI Mark for older categories, Compulsory Registration Scheme (CRS) for notified electronics and IT	CRS registration number (R-XXXXXXXXXX), ISI Mark licence
TEC (Telecommunication Engineering Centre)	Telecom equipment conformity under MTCTE	MTCTE certificate per product, validity defined by TEC
WPC (Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing)	Radio equipment, delicensed and licensed bands, station siting	Equipment Type Approval (ETA), SACFA siting clearance
DoT (Department of Telecommunications)	Operator network approvals, licensing for cellular and broadcast	Operator-level approvals, distinct from WPC ETA
MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)	Issues the notifications that bring product categories under CRS	Legal basis for CRS coverage, not an issuing body for product certificates

BIS is the national standards body, broadly equivalent in legal positioning to the British BSI or the French AFNOR, but with a product-certification regulatory power that none of its European counterparts exercises directly. TEC sits under the Department of Telecommunications and acts as the technical authority that defines Generic Requirements (GR) and Interface Requirements (IR) used in MTCTE. WPC is the spectrum manager under the same Department of Telecommunications; SACFA, the Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocations, is an inter-agency committee that vets site-based installations.

A consumer product combining a mains-fed power supply, IT-equipment functions and a wireless interface (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cellular) routinely engages all three primary tracks: BIS CRS for the electrical and IT-equipment safety, TEC MTCTE for the telecom function, WPC ETA for the radio. The DoT layer is mostly relevant for cellular products that need to be onboarded on operator networks once the BIS / TEC / WPC base is in place.

BIS, Compulsory Registration Scheme and ISI Mark

BIS operates two parallel product certification regimes that should not be confused.

CRS, the registration scheme for electronics

The Compulsory Registration Scheme is the regime activated by MeitY notifications to bring electronics and IT-equipment categories under mandatory BIS registration. The legal mechanism is a series of MeitY orders that progressively expanded the list of notified products. Categories covered today include, among others:

IT equipment (laptops, notebooks, tablets, plasma and LCD displays, set-top boxes, printers, scanners),
mobile phones and smartphones,
LED lighting and self-ballasted LED lamps,
power adapters and SMPS,
multi-function devices (printer / scanner / fax),
wireless headphones and earphones,
video monitors and televisions,
industrial PCs and several adjacent categories.

The exact coverage and the IS standards applicable to each category are published by BIS and updated when MeitY issues a new notification; the count cited in trade press varies as categories are added or merged, so the BIS list is the authoritative reference.

Certification under CRS rests on three steps:

Identification of the applicable IS standard (typically an Indian transposition of IEC 60950-1 or IEC 62368-1, depending on the product category and the date of the corresponding MeitY notification).
Testing in a BIS-accredited Indian laboratory, against the applicable IS standard, including any Indian national deviations.
Online application on the BIS CRS portal by the AIR, upload of the test report, payment of fees, issuance of the registration number in the form R-XXXXXXXXXX.

The CRS registration number must appear on the product label, together with the BIS standard mark applicable to the scheme, in a position visible without disassembly.

ISI Mark, the historical quality scheme

The ISI Mark is the older BIS scheme, governed by separate quality control orders, and applies to categories such as steel, cement, electrical installation accessories, some household appliances and other goods. For modern electronics in the CRS scope, the ISI Mark is not the applicable mark; the CRS registration number is. A manufacturer mixing the two marks on a product label exposes itself to market-surveillance challenge, because each scheme has its own licensing framework. The two are not interchangeable.

IS standards and the IEC link

A large fraction of IS standards in the CRS scope are technical transpositions of IEC standards, sometimes with national deviations. IS 13252 is the Indian counterpart of the IEC 60950 / IEC 62368 family for IT and audio-video equipment; IS 15885 covers self-ballasted LED lamps. The transposition makes it tractable for a manufacturer with a CE-marked product to adapt: the design rarely needs structural changes, but the test report itself must be produced in an Indian BIS-accredited lab, against the IS standard, including Indian deviations. A CB-Scheme report is a useful technical reference for the Indian lab; it is not, by itself, a CRS-acceptable report.

TEC MTCTE, the telecom track

MTCTE, the Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecom Equipment, is the regime under which TEC certifies telecom equipment intended for the Indian market. It was introduced in 2017 by amendment to the Indian Telegraph Rules and rolled out in phases.

Phased rollout

MTCTE coverage expanded by successive phases announced by TEC, each adding a list of product categories that become subject to mandatory certification on a defined effective date:

Phase 1, effective in late 2018, brought a first set of product categories under MTCTE.
Phase 2 added further categories the following year.
Phase 3 extended coverage to additional telecom equipment classes.
Phase 4 continued the extension, focusing on transmission and access equipment.
Phase 5, the most recent at the time of writing, brought further classes under the scheme, including categories relevant to 5G and IoT.

The exact list of products per phase, the effective dates and the applicable Essential Requirements are published by TEC on the MTCTE portal. The phased approach allows TEC to align the in-country testing capacity with the categories brought under the scheme.

GR, IR and Essential Requirements

TEC publishes two families of normative documents that underpin MTCTE:

GR, Generic Requirements, define the technical and functional requirements applicable to a product category. They are the equivalent of an EU harmonised standard for telecom equipment.
IR, Interface Requirements, define the interface specifications a product must respect to interoperate with the Indian telecom network. They are particularly relevant for products connecting to public networks.

The MTCTE Essential Requirements draw from the GR and IR and define the test scope per category. Testing must occur in TEC-designated Indian laboratories, and the resulting report is the basis of the MTCTE certificate.

MTCTE certificate

The certificate is issued by TEC per product model, identified by manufacturer, model name, technical specifications and tested configuration. The validity is defined by TEC and renewable. Changes in the product (firmware, interfaces, hardware revisions) may trigger a recertification step depending on the magnitude.

WPC, Equipment Type Approval and SACFA

WPC is the spectrum regulator under the Department of Telecommunications. Its decisions rest on the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933 and successive notifications that delineate licensed and delicensed bands.

Equipment Type Approval (ETA)

ETA is required for any product that incorporates a radio transmitter operating in delicensed bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, sub-GHz ISM bands, NFC, UWB, BLE, low-power radio for IoT. It is a per-device approval issued by WPC after review of the radio test report against the applicable Indian frequency plan and the technical parameters declared by the manufacturer.

The procedure is online via the Saral Sanchar portal of the Department of Telecommunications. The applicant uploads the technical file (radio test reports, conformity declarations, datasheets, photographs, antenna characteristics) and, after WPC review, receives the ETA number that must appear in the product technical documentation, in line with the practice for radio approvals in other regimes.

For licensed bands (cellular operators' bands, broadcast), the regime is distinct: the product itself follows MTCTE for telecom conformity, and the operator deals with its own licensing on its allocated spectrum. ETA in the WPC sense does not apply to a cellular module operating on operator-licensed spectrum, but the embedded Wi-Fi or BLE of the same device, used in delicensed bands, does fall under ETA.

SACFA, site-based clearance

SACFA, the Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocations, is an inter-agency committee that clears installations of transmitting stations at given sites. Its scope is the physical siting of an infrastructure transmitter: base stations, fixed terminals, broadcast antennas. SACFA is consequently relevant to operators and infrastructure deployers, not to mass-market consumer devices.

The distinction matters for an electronics manufacturer: a consumer product needs WPC ETA, not SACFA. A telecom operator buying that product to install a base station at a given site needs SACFA clearance for the site, on top of the WPC type approval of the equipment. The two clearances are sometimes confused in early-stage projects.

Three-track scope, side by side

Dimension	BIS CRS	TEC MTCTE	WPC ETA
Scope	Electrical and IT-equipment safety for notified categories	Telecom equipment conformity	Radio transmitters in delicensed bands
Legal basis	BIS Act + MeitY notifications under the Information Technology Act	Indian Telegraph Rules amendments (2017 onward)	Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933
Standards referenced	IS standards (transposing IEC 60950 / IEC 62368 / IEC 60598 etc.)	TEC GR and IR, MTCTE Essential Requirements	Indian frequency plan, technical parameters
Testing location	BIS-accredited Indian laboratory	TEC-designated Indian laboratory	Radio test report accepted from accredited labs, WPC review
Filer	Authorised Indian Representative (AIR)	Indian filer (subsidiary, importer or agent)	Indian filer via Saral Sanchar portal
Output	Registration number R-XXXXXXXXXX, standard mark	MTCTE certificate per model	ETA number per device
Operator approvals	n/a	n/a	n/a, handled separately by DoT for licensed bands
Label requirement	BIS standard mark and R-number visible on product	MTCTE certificate referenced in technical documentation	ETA number in technical documentation

The table makes the structural fact visible: three separate dossiers, three separate portals, three separate timelines, and a single product that nevertheless engages all three when it combines a mains supply, IT-equipment functions and a radio.

Authorised Indian Representative (AIR)

The AIR is the Indian-resident legal entity that a foreign manufacturer must appoint to operate under BIS CRS. Its responsibility is legal and continuous.

Duties

Open and maintain the CRS account on the BIS portal, manage credentials and payments.
File products on the portal, upload test reports, declarations and supporting documentation.
Hold the registration in BIS records and bear legal responsibility for declared conformity.
Maintain post-market obligations, including notification of product changes and cooperation in market surveillance.
Retain documentation and make it available in case of BIS inspection.

Possible profiles

Indian subsidiary of the manufacturer, if legally constituted in India.
Indian importer, where one exists and accepts the AIR duty.
Specialised certification agent, the common pattern for foreign manufacturers without commercial presence.

TEC MTCTE and WPC ETA filings follow a similar logic: an Indian filer must be designated. The AIR designated for BIS CRS often acts as a single point of contact for all three tracks, but the legal regimes are distinct and the contractual arrangements should reflect that.

Labelling, English and Hindi

The labelling regime under CRS demands that the BIS registration number and the standard mark appear on the product in a position visible without disassembly. The packaging and the user manual must carry the same identifiers.

End-user information (safety warnings, regulatory mentions, instructions for use) must be intelligible in English, the official language of the Indian regulatory framework. Hindi is added by industry practice for consumer goods, on packaging and in user manuals, in line with the Legal Metrology rules that govern consumer packaging. Other regional languages may be added for specific markets, but English and Hindi are the practical baseline for a pan-India launch.

The CRS label is distinct from the older ISI Mark. A product covered by CRS must carry the CRS identifiers, not the ISI Mark, which corresponds to a different scheme. Mixing the two is a recurrent cause of confusion in market surveillance.

Made in India, BIS Hallmark and PLI scheme

Two adjacent regulatory and industrial-policy elements influence the Indian market for electronics.

BIS Hallmark is a distinct BIS scheme that applies to precious metals (gold, silver) and is not the relevant scheme for electronics. The term is sometimes used loosely in trade press; for electronics, the relevant BIS scheme remains CRS.

Made in India is a country-of-origin indication, in the meaning of consumer information and customs rules, rather than a BIS certification mark per se. A product manufactured in India can carry that mention; it does not exempt the product from CRS, MTCTE or WPC ETA if applicable.

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, notified by MeitY for several electronics sub-sectors, provides financial incentives to manufacturers that establish or expand production in India. Eligibility is conditional on meeting investment and production thresholds and is separate from the regulatory regimes covered here. A PLI beneficiary still needs to satisfy BIS CRS, TEC MTCTE and WPC ETA for the products it places on the Indian market.

Comparison with CE and FCC

Criterion	CE (EU)	FCC (US)	BIS / TEC / WPC (India)
Scope	Marking covering several directives (RED, LVD, EMC, RoHS)	Radio conformity (Part 15, Part 22), safety via OSHA / NRTL	Three separate tracks: BIS for safety, TEC for telecoms, WPC for radio
Central mechanism	Self-declaration by the manufacturer, archived technical file	TCB type approval for radio, NRTL listing for safety	Registration in BIS records, MTCTE certificate, WPC ETA per device
IEC report reuse	IEC 62368-1 and others accepted via EN	Acceptable for safety on a UL or IEC basis	CB-Scheme useful as reference, but in-country testing required for CRS
Local representative	EU authorised representative if manufacturer outside EU	FCC agent	Authorised Indian Representative (AIR), mandatory for CRS
Labelling language	Language of the member state of placing on the market	English	English, Hindi added by industry practice
Validity	No duration as long as the product remains compliant	No duration for the FCC grant	CRS, MTCTE and ETA each with their own validity and renewal cycle

The structural specificity of the Indian regime is the multiplicity of tracks: three certificates, three portals, three legal bases, where the EU model collapses much of the perimeter into one self-declaration and the US model splits radio and safety along two paths. For the EU / US side, see CE vs FCC and parallel EU and US certification.

Step-by-step procedure for a connected consumer product

Typical sequence for a European or US manufacturer addressing the Indian market for the first time with a connected product combining a mains supply, IT-equipment functions and a wireless interface.

Freeze product specifications (hardware, firmware, radio interfaces, antenna, accessories) and identify the applicable regimes: BIS CRS for the IT-equipment safety, TEC MTCTE for any telecom function, WPC ETA for any radio in delicensed bands. Flag whether a cellular function will require subsequent DoT operator approvals.
Designate the Authorised Indian Representative (AIR) under a written contract. Without an AIR, the BIS CRS filing cannot begin. The same Indian-resident entity often acts as the filer for MTCTE and WPC ETA, with contractual clarity on the three roles.
Map the applicable IS standards for the CRS scope (typically IS 13252 for IT and AV equipment, additional IS standards for lighting, lamps or power supplies). Compare with the IEC standards already met for CE marking; identify the testing scope to be redone in India.
Select a BIS-accredited Indian laboratory for the CRS tests. The list is published by BIS. Contract testing, ship samples, run the campaign against the IS standard including Indian deviations.
File the CRS application on the BIS portal through the AIR. Upload the IS test report, the manufacturer declaration, the product datasheets and the supporting documentation. Pay the fees. Receive the R-XXXXXXXXXX registration number on issuance.
Map the applicable TEC GR and IR for the telecom function. Select a TEC-designated laboratory. Run the MTCTE campaign. File the MTCTE application on the TEC portal through the Indian filer. Receive the MTCTE certificate.
Compile the WPC ETA dossier for the radio function: radio test reports (the ETSI or FCC reports already produced for CE / FCC are typically accepted by WPC as the technical basis, subject to alignment with the Indian frequency plan), datasheets, antenna characteristics, photographs. File on the Saral Sanchar portal. Receive the ETA number.
Design the final label and documentation: BIS standard mark and R-number on the product, MTCTE reference and ETA number in the technical documentation, English plus Hindi where consumer packaging is concerned.
Maintenance: track the validity and renewal of each of the three certificates separately, monitor product changes (any radio change may invalidate the WPC ETA, any firmware change may trigger MTCTE recertification, any safety-relevant change triggers a CRS update).

For cross-cutting orders of magnitude on each phase, see certification timeline.

Common pitfalls

Pitfall	Consequence
Filing CRS only and forgetting WPC ETA for the embedded radio	Wireless function not authorised, market-surveillance withdrawal
Mis-classifying a product between CRS and MTCTE	Single dossier where two are needed, launch delay when the gap is identified
Appointing the AIR late in the project	CRS portal account not operational, filing pushed by several weeks
Reusing a CB-Scheme report as the final CRS test report	Filing rejected, in-country testing required, additional cost and time
Confusing WPC ETA and SACFA	Site-based clearance pursued when the product needs a device-level approval
Confusing CRS and ISI Mark on labelling	Wrong mark on the product, market-surveillance challenge
Ignoring Indian deviations in IS standards	Test report incomplete, additional tests at CRS review
Forgetting the DoT operator-level approvals for cellular	Cellular product certified BIS / TEC / WPC but not onboarded on operator networks