New Delhi: In a major step towards strengthening India’s legal metrology framework, the Department of Consumer Affairs on Tuesday awarded 12 Government Approved Test Centre (GATC) certificates to 11 private entities, significantly expanding the country’s verification and calibration ecosystem through a structured public–private partnership model.
The certificates were presented by Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Minister for New & Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, in the presence of Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Social Justice and Empowerment B.L. Verma. The initiative marks a key milestone in enhancing accuracy, transparency and efficiency in trade-related measurements across the country.
The move follows the amendment of the Legal Metrology (Government Approved Test Centre) Rules, 2013, notified on October 23, 2025, which broadened the scope of entities eligible to undertake verification and re-verification of weighing and measuring instruments. With the inclusion of qualified private laboratories, the government aims to strengthen the country’s verification infrastructure while reducing dependency on public laboratories alone.
Under the revised framework, 18 categories of instruments are now covered, including water, energy and gas meters; flow and moisture meters; sphygmomanometers and clinical thermometers; breath analysers; vehicle speed meters; multi-dimensional measuring instruments; automatic rail weighbridges; non-automatic weighing instruments; load cells; beam scales; and weights of all categories. This expansion reflects the growing complexity of modern trade and the need for precise measurement across diverse sectors such as healthcare, transport, energy and infrastructure.
To operationalise the initiative, the Department of Consumer Affairs launched a dedicated online portal for receiving applications from eligible private entities. The application window, which remained open until November 30, 2025, enabled a transparent and time-bound selection process, ensuring efficiency and accountability in the approval mechanism.
Officials said the recognition of private GATCs will significantly enhance access to verification services, reduce turnaround time for businesses, and improve compliance across markets. By decentralising verification activities, the move is expected to ease the burden on State Legal Metrology Departments, allowing them to focus more effectively on enforcement, inspection and consumer grievance redressal.
The initiative aligns with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, encouraging domestic technical capacity and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors. The continued role of Regional Reference Standard Laboratories (RRSLs) and National Test House (NTH) laboratories as deemed GATCs will further ensure a robust, reliable and standardised national verification framework.
Officials said the reform strengthens consumer protection by ensuring accuracy in measurements that directly impact daily transactions, while also promoting ease of doing business through faster, transparent and technology-driven regulatory processes.
