NEW DELHI: The Centre has begun opening up India’s legal metrology ecosystem to private participation, authorizing private laboratories to verify and certify weighing and measuring instruments to reduce delays and ease compliance for businesses.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has awarded 12 government-approved test centre (GATC) certificates to 11 private entities, marking a shift towards a structured public-private partnership model in the verification of weights and measures, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to widen private participation across sectors.
“The objective of bringing in private testing laboratories is to make verification and certification more seamless and time-bound, reduce delays, and expand access to authentic testing. This will allow government labs and legal metrology officers to focus more on enforcement and consumer grievance redressal, while maintaining strict regulatory oversight,” a senior government official said.
Issuing GATC certificates authorizes private entities to legally verify and certify instruments used in trade, expanding testing capacity beyond government laboratories and state legal metrology departments. The government expects the move to reduce delays, improve compliance and allow authorities to focus more on enforcement and consumer protection, while retaining regulatory oversight.
Under the revised framework, GATCs can now verify 18 categories of weighing and measuring instruments. These include water meters, energy meters, gas meters, flow meters, breath analysers, blood pressure meters, thermometers and vehicle speed meters, in addition to conventional weighing instruments.
The certificates were presented on 24 December by consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi as part of efforts to strengthen consumer protection while easing compliance burdens and addressing verification bottlenecks for the industry.
The recognition of private test centres follows amendments to the Legal Metrology (Government Approved Test Centre) Rules, 2013, notified in October. The changes significantly expanded the scope of instruments eligible for verification by GATCs and formally opened the door for qualified private entities to conduct verification and re-verification activities, a role previously dominated by government facilities.
“There will be no lapses, as all private laboratories will be required to strictly follow the government’s prescribed and stringent testing protocols. Their operations will be subject to regular audits and oversight to ensure uniformity, accuracy and credibility in the testing process,” the official said, adding that approvals have initially been granted for one year and may be extended based on performance.
All 11 private entities have been authorized to operate as GATCs for specific categories of instruments for an initial period valid until 23 December 2026.
The approved entities include FMI Ltd, Mahavir Jain and Yorker Engineering Pvt. Ltd for testing tape measures; V. Brindha and Abhishek Raj for non-automatic weighing instruments of Accuracy Class III (up to 150 kg); Yadav Measurements Pvt. Ltd for gas and energy meters; Paresh Vira, Saurabh Gupta and Pietro Fiorentini DB India Pvt. Ltd for gas meters; MeterMatrix Solutions Pvt. Ltd for energy meters; and Ajay Agrawal for breath analysers.
These entities are located across Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, significantly expanding the geographical reach of authorized testing facilities.
The department has also rolled out a dedicated online portal to process applications from private laboratories and industries seeking GATC status. The first round of applications closed at the end of November. The digital, time-bound process is expected to reduce discretion, speed up approvals and improve service delivery, the ministry said.
According to the department, the entry of private GATCs is expected to improve access to verification services, cut turnaround times and lower compliance costs for manufacturers, traders and service providers. More decentralized and frequent verification of consumer-facing instruments such as weighing scales, electricity meters and water meters is also expected to reduce disputes, limit short-measurement risks and strengthen trust in everyday transactions.
Existing government facilities, including five regional reference standard laboratories and seven national test house laboratories, will continue to function as deemed GATCs, providing a nationwide backbone for legal metrology verification and ensuring continuity, standardization and oversight even as private test centres are brought into the system.