Quality goods - mantra for long-term business
The Planning Commission in the 11th five-year Plan, which is to be placed before the National Development Council in December, has sought a National Quality and Standardization Authority, which would prepare mandatory and voluntary standards for goods.

I have reasons to believe that it is a good move and is likely to prepare us to meet the international standards, which many a time, our manufacturers/ suppliers happily give a miss to. It’s a shame that in the past couple of months several consignments from India to the West had to be returned because of inferior quality. We need to take measures to maintain good standards and put a stop to manufacturing sub-standard goods.

I think manufacturers and suppliers should re-think their strategy now. We need to realize that compromising with the quality of goods to increase the profit margins is certainly unethical and is just a short-term measure. Once the buyer/ importer becomes aware of this fact, which eventually he would, he would never buy from the same supplier/ exporter. There is also a fear of being blacklisted in the market.

In short, by trying to pass on inferior quality goods you can end up only on the losing side.

At a time when all exporters are feeling the heat of the rising rupee against the dollar, rejection of goods owing to inferior quality is the last thing one would want to happen. After all, the USP of Indian goods over other nations is the quality of goods we produce. Let’s keep it that way.

Monthly Economic & Commercial Report on Brunei Darussalam for October 2007 giving latest updates on developments directly affecting India's foreign trade and investment. Read More...