India to use AI for machine-readable standards: Consumer Affairs Secretary
India’s Consumer Affairs Ministry plans to adopt AI-driven machine-readable SMART standards to streamline compliance for industries, reducing manual regulatory burdens. Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare emphasized AI’s role in modernizing the country’s standards ecosystem during a FICCI event on June 4, while also urging industry collaboration to replace outdated testing methods.
India’s Consumer Affairs Ministry is developing machine-readable SMART standards using artificial intelligence to simplify regulatory compliance for businesses. These standards translate rules into digital formats that systems can automatically process, eliminating manual verification. Speaking at a FICCI-organized event on June 4, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare highlighted AI’s potential to modernize India’s standards framework despite its disruptive challenges. Khare described India’s current economic phase as a ‘transformative moment,’ with quality standards central to achieving the ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ vision. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is shifting from a regulatory role to a facilitator, encouraging private sector testing infrastructure to support industrial growth while maintaining consumer trust. The government aims to phase out obsolete testing methods for faster, more accurate alternatives. Khare urged industries to engage actively in standards development, framing quality as both a tool for development and a standalone goal. SMART formats—Standard Machine Accessible, Readable, and Transferable—will integrate dynamic updates into software and manufacturing workflows, further automating compliance.
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