QCI should bring convergence of quality in India: Piyush Goyal

Addressing the Silver Jubilee celebrations of QCI, the minister said that the organizations may work in tandem towards building a world-class quality system in India and make quality a national mission. 

“Convergence will also help us scale up absorption of quality standards. It will help us take the national quality mission to every citizen and every business in the country so that the business environment, the investment environment that we have been able to create in the country can grow from strength to strength and help India become a developed nation by 2047″, Goyal added. 

He said that quality will define brand India in the time to come. “Quality never comes at a cost but saved costs and improved productivity. The citizens should imbibe the determination to do everything they do in a better, more efficient, more cost effective, more useful and more measurable manner. The culture of quality has to be ingrained in the nation. The idea of quality can truly transform this country faster than anything else.” 

The minister said that QCI brought quality consciousness into the entire coal ecosystem. This initiative of QCI is in the spirit of national service as it transformed the way coal industry perceived quality. “Prior to 2014, there was a significant gap in the price paid and the quality of coal received due to lack of adherence to quality standards. Once QCI stepped in and started undertaking initiatives like third party sampling of coal, there was transformative improvement in quality in the sector.” 

Goyal added that Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) commitment to quality has resulted in better quality food grains reaching consumers who were mostly underprivileged. The process of distribution of these food grains is now completely technologically enabled using biometrics and under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), beneficiaries can pick up their food from anywhere in the nation. “The entitlement is transparent; the delivery is transparent and all of this happens through a quality-assured process.” 

QCI played a significant role in the One District One Product (ODOP) initiative to encourage products from remote areas to find markets in India and abroad. “QCI helped the Commerce ministry introduce the concept of quality in remote parts of the country so that products from these areas also become acceptable in Indian and international markets. It also contributed in the GI tagging initiative and in completing the Swachh Surveykshan,” he said. 

The minister added that QCI also helped bring quality consciousness at storage points in various warehouses of FCI, the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and different states. 

For the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) initiative, QCI played a leadership role. “ONDC will help save mom and pop stores, save millions of jobs and democratize e-commerce so that the entire ecosystem has a chance to engage with modern technology and become stakeholders of a vibrant future which cares for every section of the industry and focuses on customer satisfaction,” Goyal said. 

He said that it was time that the nation adopted ‘zero-defect and zero-affect’ policy. “A quality orientation can also help us significantly when we are looking at a sustainable future for the country.”