New Delhi: The Quality Council of India (QCI) and public procurement portal GeM should join hands to ensure that all high-value products on the platform are quality-certified, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said.
He also stressed the need for evolving quality standards in education, health, hospitality, transport, packaging, food processing, and MSME sectors.
Government e-Marketplace (GeM), launched by the commerce ministry in August 2016, is the national public procurement portal for an online, end-to-end marketplace for open, efficient and transparent procurement of goods and services by central and state government organisations. GeM Chief Executive Officer Talleen Kumar is taking a host of steps to make the portal more dynamic.
Goyal said the quality evaluation and certification should be rational, transparent, reliable, free from any manipulation or malpractices and the quality standards should be of high class and implementable.
He said this while reviewing the performance of the QCI through the video conference.
He said the Aatmanirbhar Bharat will grow and prosper on the basis of quality indigenous products and services.
“QCI has taken many initiatives during the lockdown period, but the real challenge and opportunity lie in the post-COVID-19 era… The new norm will call for new quality standards in all fields, including education, health, shopping, services,” he said.
He called upon the QCI to study the best practices evolving in other countries for the post-coronavirus era, and adopt them in India, after taking into account various aspects and local situation.
The minister also asked the Council to do the gap analysis in skills in the country, and suggest means to fill the gap.
He added that the large training infrastructure set up for offline training in the government sector may not be required in the future, and online training may prove to be more effective, and affordable.
QCI is a non-profit autonomous society, under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), with the mandate to establish an accreditation structure in the country and to spread quality movement in India by undertaking a national quality campaign.
