ISI mark licence renewal: validity, fees, the Form XII process and what happens when it lapses

You renew an ISI licence online in Form XII with your production details and fees, preferably two months before the validity date^[2]. Since 25 February 2026, Scheme-I para 8 says a licence is granted for up to five years and renewed for up to five more, with the fee paid in advance every year before the due date^[1]. BIS's renewal guidelines CMD-I/2:12:3 of 5 March 2025, written before that change, let you renew for one to five years if you pay the application fee, licence fee, advance minimum marking fee and any dues for the whole period^[9]. Pay what Manakonline asks for at renewal.

Most renewals are now automatic once the application and fees are in. The exceptions are licences under suspension, in deferment after suspension, in cancellation or expiry proceedings, under self-suspension or factory shift, or with no self-compliance report^[10].

This page is about ISI mark (Scheme-I) licences, including those held by foreign factories under FMCS. Electronics registered under CRS renew differently; see CRS renewal. For the fee amounts themselves see ISI mark fees.

Since 25 February 2026 an ISI licence is granted initially for up to five years and can be renewed for up to five more. The fee is paid in advance every year before the due date, and a missed annual fee with production statement suspends the licence for 90 days under regulation 8^[1]. Before the amendment, BIS's FAQ said a licence was granted for up to two years and renewed for up to five^[4]. The 2025 renewal guidelines set the minimum renewal period at one year^[9].

Foreign factories under FMCS hold Scheme-I licences, so the same up-to-five-year rule applies to them^[1]. BIS's FMCS pages, written before the amendment, still say one to two years at first^[11]; the Gazette governs. The licence covers only the varieties listed in its scope^[12].

The yearly fee rule changes the cash-flow question. Under the 2025 guidelines, renewing for five years meant paying five years of licence fee and advance minimum marking fee up front^[13]. Since February 2026 the regulations have fees paid on an annual basis in advance, during the licence as well as at renewal {V}. Diarise the yearly due date as well as the validity date. CRS licences moved to the same up-to-five-year terms^[14].

Renewal costs the renewal application fee, the annual licence fee for each year renewed, and the advance minimum marking fee for each year, plus any dues^[9]. The annual licence fee is Rs 1,000^[4], and for FMCS licensees the renewal application fee is Rs 1,000 and the late fee Rs 5,000^[15].

The big number is the marking fee. It is set per Indian Standard as an annual minimum plus unit rates per unit produced^[16]. At renewal, the actual marking fee is worked out from a CA-certified production statement^[17], and a BIS grant letter is reported to say you pay the actual fee or the minimum, whichever is higher^[18].

Micro and small enterprises get large cuts on the minimum marking fee until 31 May 2029: 80% for micro, 50% for small, 80% for start-ups, plus 10% more for women-led enterprises^[8].

Take a pressure cooker licence under IS 2347. BIS's consolidated list gives a minimum marking fee of Rs 46,000 for a large enterprise, Rs 37,000 medium, Rs 23,000 small and Rs 9,200 micro, with a unit rate of Rs 0.87 per piece^[19].

Large maker, five-year renewal. Licence fee 5 x Rs 1,000 = Rs 5,000^[4]. Advance minimum marking fee 5 x Rs 46,000 = Rs 2,30,000^[13]. Application fee Rs 1,000^[15]. Total about Rs 2,36,000 before GST.

The production check. Suppose that maker marked 80,000 cookers last year. At Rs 0.87 each the actual fee is Rs 69,600, which is above the Rs 46,000 minimum, so the difference is reported to be payable^[18]. Production figures here are illustrative; the rates are BIS's.

Micro maker, one-year renewal. Rs 1,000 + Rs 1,000 + Rs 9,200 = Rs 11,200. Use the compliance cost estimator to compare one-year and five-year options, and see ISI licence costs for the full first-year picture.

Apply in Form XII preferably two months before the validity date^[2]. Two months gives time to get the CA-certified production statement, fill the self-compliance report and clear any shortfall BIS raises.

BIS reviews automatic renewals and tells you of any shortfall within seven working days, and you then have seven days to fix it^[20]. If you file on the last day, that review runs after validity, which is avoidable stress.

The production statement also runs on fixed periods: the first nine months in the first year, and then the last three months of the previous year plus the first nine of the current one^[21]. Put the CA engagement in the diary for month nine. The licence renewal date tool works out these dates from your grant date.

Renewal is filed online; BIS accepts Scheme-I applications and payments only on Manakonline^[4]. The steps below follow the 2025 guidelines.

The self-compliance report is a declaration you must file at every renewal, and at the annual review if you renewed for several years^[5]. If it is missing, the renewal is not automatic^[10].

It has three parts. Section A covers the organisation profile and brands, including any brand owned by someone else, with the agreement attached. Section B covers manpower, machinery, process, layout, test equipment, label, weekly off and installed capacity. Section C is a set of declarations: that you follow the current version of the Indian Standard with amendments, have closed all BIS instructions, keep hygiene where relevant, use conforming raw materials and keep records under the Scheme of Inspection and Testing^[5].

Two items trip people up. If you moved the factory, the report tells you to stop using the Standard Mark and inform BIS before resuming^[5]. And if the standard was revised, you must confirm you have implemented it, or will before the last date of concurrent running. For example, BIS extended concurrent running of IS 302-1 versions to 23 February 2027^[23], so IS 302 (Part 1) licensees renewing now must declare their plan.

If you miss the date, the licence goes into deferment for up to 90 days rather than expiring at once^[3]. Manakonline does this automatically: from 1 January 2023 licences past validity stand deferred, and those more than 90 days past validity expire^[24].

Within the 90 days you can still renew by paying the renewal fees plus a Rs 5,000 late fee. The licence is then renewed from the original validity date, and production during the gap may be regularised where the deferment was not about safety or quality. You also sign an undertaking to apply on time in future^[3].

During deferment you may not mark or dispatch marked goods, and you still owe marking fee for the whole period^[25]. For a product under a Quality Control Order, that means your goods cannot legally be sold during the gap.

BIS may also check. For compulsory products, if a deferred licensee does not respond within 15 days, BIS may visit within the next 15 days and can process expiry without waiting for the full 90 days^[26].

Once a licence has expired you cannot renew it; you apply for a new licence. The renewal guidelines say the licence stands expired 90 days after validity if the renewal application and fees, including late fee, are not received^[3].

A new application means the full grant process again: Form-V, documents, factory visit and testing. How it ended matters. A licence that expired or was cancelled because samples failed can only be re-applied for under option-1, the normal procedure with a factory visit and BIS sampling, not the faster option-2^[27].

Expired licences are public. BIS's non-conformity guidelines say suspended, cancelled and expired licences are shown on the e-BIS dashboard^[28], and BIS may make discreet visits to expired licensees to check for misuse of the mark^[29]. Buyers and marketplaces check that dashboard, so an expired licence can delist you quickly. See how to verify a BIS licence.

Not until the suspension is revoked. If the licence is suspended at the end of its validity and you have applied for renewal, BIS defers the renewal decision for up to 180 days; if suspension is not revoked in that time, the licence may expire^[6].

Suspensions usually come from surveillance failures. Under BIS's February 2026 non-conformity guidelines, suspension can follow a consecutive second critical non-conformity, a consecutive third non-conformity, or failures in more than a third of surveillance reports, after a notice giving you 10 days to explain^[30]. Labelling problems escalate too: a missing licence number or IS number twice brings a suspension notice^[31].

If you are suspended and your validity date is approaching, treat revocation of suspension as the renewal task: send corrective actions, invite the verification visit and get the sample retested well inside the 180 days.

Yes. You can ask BIS to defer renewal and keep the licence 'dormant' for up to one year from its validity date, if the request reaches BIS at least 30 days before validity^[7]. BIS may accept it on payment of ten per cent of the minimum marking fee or Rs 7,000, whichever is higher^[7].

This suits seasonal importers and brands pausing a product line. For the IS 2347 example above, ten per cent of a large enterprise's Rs 46,000 minimum is Rs 4,600, so the Rs 7,000 floor applies^[19]. You cannot mark goods while dormant.

BIS may run discreet visits to dormant licences to check for misuse^[29]. Do not sell old marked stock as new production during the dormant year.

FMCS renewal follows the same Scheme-I rules plus a bank guarantee. It needs Form XII, month-wise production details with consignee addresses, a Performance Bank Guarantee extended to six months beyond the new validity, and payment of marking fees, with a Rs 5,000 late fee if late^[11]. The original guarantee is US$ 10,000 from a bank with an RBI-authorised Indian branch^[32].

Fees for FMCS licensees are paid in US dollars by non-SAARC applicants, through RTGS, NEFT or SWIFT, net of bank charges^[15]. Start the bank guarantee extension early, because banks take weeks and BIS wants it in place before renewal.

The Authorised Indian Representative usually files the renewal on the factory's behalf. Make sure the AIR has the production data by consignee, because BIS's market surveillance of foreign licensees is planned from that data^[33]. Our FMCS fees page has the full fee list.

Surveillance results feed straight into renewal, because a suspended licence cannot be renewed^[6]. BIS generally buys two market samples per licence per year for independent testing, rising to three or four for licensees with a poor two-year record^[34].

Samples are bought in the open market, from organised buyers or anywhere in the supply chain including the port of entry, and you must upload month-wise production and consignee details every quarter so BIS knows where to buy^[33]. Missing consignee updates is one of the shortfalls BIS checks after automatic renewal^[20].

After a first failure you move to enhanced surveillance every three months until two consecutive samples pass^[27]. The CRS equivalent is run by MeitY and STPI; see CRS surveillance.

Even on a five-year renewal, an ISI licence has yearly and quarterly tasks. Each one is something BIS checks when it reviews your renewal^[20].

Not any more for most products. A BIS circular of 16 December 2025 says manufacturers no longer need an in-house laboratory to operate certification; shared, cluster or sub-contracted testing at BIS-recognised or ISO/IEC 17025 labs is allowed, except for some products such as helmets, food and pre-dispatch-inspected goods^[36].

That helps renewals, because the self-compliance report asks whether your Scheme of Inspection and Testing records, including for sub-contracted tests, are maintained^[5]. If you have switched to an outside lab, record it as a change in Section B and keep the agreement on file.

Helmets are among the exceptions, so IS 4151 licensees should check the product manual before dropping in-house testing. Find labs near you on the BIS labs pages.

Most failed renewals are missing paperwork, not failed products. These are the ones we see most, with the fix.

If you import ISI-marked goods made by a foreign factory, the licence belongs to the factory, but you carry the risk at the port and in the market. The BIS Act bars importing or selling notified goods without a valid licence and mark^[37], and the definition of 'person' includes importers^[37].

Check three things before each shipment: that the licence is valid on the day the goods land, that the model or variety is in the licence scope^[12], and that the CM/L number on the product matches^[35]. A licence in deferment does not allow marking or dispatch^[25].

Ask suppliers for their validity date when you place orders, and build it into contracts. Our first-time importer checklist and customs documents checklist include this check, and why shipments get held explains what happens when it is missed.

Start on Manakonline, which hosts the renewal form, licence search and a surveillance dashboard^[38]. See our Manakonline portal guide for navigation.

If your licence is already in deferment, or under suspension with validity approaching, talk to someone quickly: a BIS consultant or our free compliance check. For which products need an ISI licence at all, use the approval checker or the QCO tracker.